France and Germany are the EU's founding and two largest member states. Franco-German "embedded bilateralism" arguably lies at the heart of European integration. My research concerns different aspects of Franco-German political relations and their impact on European-level politics.
In several journal articles, I seek to understand how Franco-German relations work in practice and how they affect broader policymaking in the EU. Drawing from various international relations theories, "Leadership in European crisis politics" (JEPP 2024) seeks to understrand the role of France and Germany in the difficult quest for regional stabilization and integration.
"Embedded Bilateralism, Integration Theory, and European Crisis Politics" (JCMS 2022) analyzes how the Franco-German initiative for a joint fiscal response to the Covid-19 pandemic paved the way for the EU's Next Generation recovery plan. The figure below, taken from this article, illustrates how France and Germany, joining forces, took a mediating position between different larger camps of member states.
