Greening EU Studies: An Academic Manifesto

This article responds to Ian Manners' challenge to scholars of EU studies to engage with a broader range of theoretical perspectives and projects than is conventional. Specifically, it investigates the benefits of such an epistemological shift as that called for by Manners, critiquing the condition of the mainstream in EU studies—which is still somewhat unreflexively defined by dominant norms of IR scholarship despite the development of the field into a multi-disciplinary form of area studies—and arguing for an engagement with ecological thought and theory.

To do this, the article proceeds in three stages. First, I set out why I think the call for a greater range of critical perspectives in EU studies is useful, focusing on the epistemological challenges and benefits involved in taking such a step. Second, I set out the core ideas of political theories of ecology. Finally, I suggest specific benefits for EU studies of incorporating such an ecological approach.