ULB Research ⤶	Description of the Unit	Projects of the Unit	Composition
Collaborations of the Unit	Protected technologies	Publications	Skills

European Studies, International Relations and globalisation

The ULB profits from its location at Brussels for studying Europe. Back in 1963, it set up the Institute of European Studies, later to become a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. All facets of European integration - law, the economy, politics, history and culture - are the subject of in-depth analysis. This sees researchers analysing for example the European Union institutions and politics, the interaction between national and European authorities, the history of the European construction, the development of European societies and mentalities or the internal policies of the European Union, such as migration policy, asylum policy, criminal policy, monetary policy, the set of rules and regulations linked to the Single Market or environmental legislation. They also look into the external relations of the European Union in the context of a wider analysis of global governance and regional integration. This research focused on Europe is just one part of the ULB's overall research effort in the field of international relations and globalisation. Other fields studied in depth include issues relating to security, conflict resolution, maintaining peace, as well as developments in international public and private law and comparisons between different systems of national law. Further research activities focus on specific geographical areas such as the Islamic world or Africa, looking both at concrete situations and the economic, legal and cultural dimensions of globalisation.

Justice, Citizenship and Democracy

Justice and citizenship have a major role to play in contemporary society: how to fairly (re)distribute wealth? What is national identity based on? How can democracy and human rights be defended? Are we at risk of being governed by judges? At the ULB, jurists, criminologists, philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and historians are looking at these issues from different angles, ranging from political philosophy and legal theory to the study of institutions in Belgium and abroad. The judiciary and the prison system are also an integral part of the study of democracy, being specifically addressed by several ULB research teams. Electoral systems constitute a special focus, part of a broader research focus on politics. Changes in democracy and social relations and the democratic transition in Eastern European and Mediterranean countries represent further key focuses of the work conducted by our research teams. S imilarly, ULB researchers are conducting in-depth analyses of issues involving gender and minorities. Finally, particular attention is accorded to communication, new information technologies, social networking, and organisation and management of digital information in knowledge sharing and data transfer, many of which have the potential to help construct new forms of citizenship and democracy.