In recent years, multiple intersecting phenomena, such as the climate emergency, the global financial crash, the refugee crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, amongst others, have made it increasingly evident that effective and cooperative global governance is needed as we move further into the 21st Century. These crises require thorough critical analyses that capture the complexity of the issues currently being faced by populations, and can inform coordinated international responses from governments. The JHU-UPF Public Policy Center aims to address this knowledge gap.

Within this field, the Center directs research that focuses especially on the two regions in which its faculty are based: North America and Europe. The politics of the United States have far-reaching influence and consequences on an international scale that merit analysis and critique. Meanwhile, economic and political shocks across Europe have shown that the EU has scope to create and consolidate strong, coordinated and powerful institutions to adequately address the different challenges affecting the European population. Nevertheless, these institutions are facing a crisis of legitimacy, besides the many practical challenges posed by rapidly changing global phenomena. In this context, the JHU-UPF Public Policy Center, jointly with the Barcelona Center for European Studies (BACES), conducts research focused on European Union negotiation, decision-making and implementation processes.

Some current research areas are:

  • Analyzing global policy responses to current crises.
  • Challenges and governance of economic diversity in the EU.
  • Political economy of Center – Periphery divisions in the EU.
  • The political and economic implications of the EU’s long-term budget (including instruments such as the Next Generation EU recovery fund).
  • Cohesion policies in the EU, and the quality of EU public policies.