Defining, explaining and using the concept of governance

• Florence School of Transnational Governance

In this lecture, Philippe Schmitter, himself one of the most renowned protagonists of the governance debate in European integration studies, will lay out his personal synopsis of four decades of research and look ahead to the concept’s future applicability in theory and practice.

Governance is one of the most utilized concepts in the social sciences. The concept also diffused itself via international organisations to almost every corner of modern policymaking.

It can be defined as a method or mechanism for dealing with policy problems and the conflicts surrounding them in which actors regularly arrive at mutually satisfactory and binding decisions by negotiating with each other and cooperating in the implementation of these decisions. The very ubiquity of the term indicates however also a certain fuzziness and excessive stretchability.

In this lecture, EUI emeritus professor  Philippe Schmitter, himself one of the most renowned protagonists of the governance debate in European integration studies, will lay out his personal synopsis of four decades of research and look ahead to the concept’s future applicability in theory and practice.

The lecture is open to the EUI community. To attend, EUI members may register here.