Call for Abstracts: Conference 'Whose Values?'

The conference seeks to examine alternative and complementary ways of understanding and defining Article 2 TEU values through sustained interdisciplinary engagement, not only by juxtaposing perspectives, but by fostering dialogue across methodological and epistemological traditions. The conference will connect scholars from law, political science, sociology, philosophy, social psychology, history, anthropology, and related fields. It aims to explore how EU values are conceptualised, operationalised, experienced, and contested across disciplines and societies, including within and beyond academic contexts. 

The growing prominence of Article 2 TEU has exposed significant tensions within existing academic and institutional debates. While legal scholarship and judicial practice have made major contributions to defining and operationalising Union values, the discourse remains heavily centred on doctrinal interpretation and constitutional enforcement. Recent years have seen growing scholarly attention to the constitutional significance of Article 2 TEU, particularly in debates on rule of law conditionality, militant democracy, constitutional identity, democratic backsliding, and the relationship between Union values and mutual trust, which have led to significant debate, notably among legal scholars. Comparatively less attention has been paid in these debates to how these values are socially constructed, politically contested, and historically contingent, and their meaning is subject to varying understandings across disciplines and societies. As the values in Article 2 TEU increasingly function as constitutional centring mechanisms within the Union’s legal and political order, questions concerning interpretive authority, democratic participation, and societal ownership can no longer be treated as peripheral concerns; they are now unavoidable. 

Who defines Union values, through which processes, on what basis of legitimacy, and on what authority? Can these values continue to operate as shared constitutional commitments when their meaning is contested and subject to varying understandings across political, social, cultural, and disciplinary contexts? As courts and EU institutions increasingly take an active role in shaping and delimiting the content of the Union’s values, more fundamental questions come into view concerning democratic legitimacy, societal ownership, and interpretive authority. Can the use of constitutional values as constitutional centring mechanisms within the Union continue to be sustained primarily through judicial articulation and institutional enforcement, or does such an approach risk narrowing their normative reach and public acceptance? In sum, we ask if Union values require broader forms of social and political input in order to retain their legitimacy, authority, and capacity to function as genuinely shared constitutional commitments across the Union and its Member States. 

We welcome contributions on all aspects of EU values under Article 2 TEU from all disciplines and methodological traditions. We are particularly interested in the following themes:

1. Defining EU values
   Who defines the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, and through what processes? What roles are played by courts, legislatures, administrative actors, citizens, civil society, private actors, and epistemic communities? How are ‘values’ conceptualised differently across, for example, legal, political, and social contexts? What are the implications of these modes of definition for legitimacy, trust, and democratic governance in the EU?
    
2. Conceptualisation and interdependence of values 
   How should core values such as human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law be conceptualised? To what extent are these values intrinsically interrelated, and how do different fields (e.g. law, social psychology, history) approach their relations? Can/should they be meaningfully analysed in isolation? 
    
3. Tensions, contestation, limits, and synergies 
   What tensions and synergies emerge between these values, or between competing interpretations of the same value? How are these tensions reflected in political mobilisation, public discourse, or social conflict? To what extent do apparent breaches of values reflect deeper structural disagreements or legitimate contestation? How does the discourse on values articulates societal fault lines and how are the relationships between those values articulated in political and social conflict?
    
4. Values in legal, political, and societal practice
   How are Article 2 TEU values mobilised across different sites of EU law and governance, and what functions do they perform as instruments of enforcement, coordination, and legitimation in the Union’s constitutional order? How does their function vary across these domains as legally binding norms, as political resources, and as socially embedded reference points? To what extent do these different sites of practice interact, reinforce, or reshape one another in the interpretation and application of these values? Do values operate as constraints, interpretative principles, or instruments of governance differently across these contexts?
    
5. The Social Construction and Interdisciplinary Contestation of Values
   How are these values understood, constructed, and contested across different disciplines and social settings? To what extent is their meaning mediated by broader social, cultural, and historical processes rather than just through the law? What insights do disciplines such as sociology, political science, anthropology, philosophy, history, and psychology offer regarding how values are internalised, instrumentalised, or resisted across different societies and social groups? Do these perspectives provide insights that explain variation in the perception, uptake, and contestation of Article 2 TEU values across the Union?
    
6. Values in public and private governance
   How are Article 2 TEU values perceived, interpreted, and operationalised by a range of public and private actors, including state authorities, corporations, digital platforms, NGOs, and other organisational forms? In what ways do these actors internalise, translate, or adapt such values within their own institutional logics and practices? How do values circulate between legal frameworks, organisational routines, and societal expectations, and how are they reshaped in this process? 

We invite expressions of interest from scholars across all disciplines and career stages. We particularly encourage participation from researchers within Maastricht University, including interdisciplinary and cross-faculty collaborations. We also warmly welcome contributions from scholars based at other institutions. 

Expressions of interest should include: 

1. A short biography (maximum 100 words) for each applicant; and
2. An abstract (maximum 500 words).

Abstracts may be conceptual, theoretical, or empirical, and may draw on qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodologies. They should clearly identify the central research question, and the methodological and (inter)disciplinary approach adopted.

All submissions should be sent by email to Ourania at  ourania.vasileiadou@maastrichtuniversity.nl, with the subject line: ‘Expression of Interest: Whose Values?’ Vasileiadou

The deadline for submissions is the 30th of June 2026.

Decisions will be communicated by email shortly thereafter. Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to present their work at the conference. Presentations are not required to be based on a full paper; rather, the conference is designed to facilitate dialogue and the discussion of ongoing research, including works-in-progress. Participants are expected, at a minimum, to prepare a short set of presentation materials (slides accompanied by a brief outline or structured notes of their argument) to support discussion. Participants are welcome, but not required, to develop a written paper in connection with their presentation. Authors of selected abstracts will be expected to participate fully in the conference. Interdisciplinary engagement, including co-presenting across disciplines, is strongly encouraged. 

Following the conference, a selection of contributors will be invited to collaborate on a special issue with a peer-reviewed journal. These invitations will be made after reviewing all abstracts and participation in the conference, in order to facilitate meaningful thematic and interdisciplinary groupings. The conference is meant as a stage in the process of identifying meaningful synergies across disciplines with a view to collaborating for the special issue. 

Participation fees for speakers and panellists will be covered, including dinner on the evening of the 1st of February. For accepted external participants, transportation costs will be reimbursed within predefined limits (to be communicated upon acceptance), and accommodation will be arranged by the Faculty of Law. A detailed programme and further practical information will be circulated following the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!