Jens Wissel

The structure of the 'EU'ropean ensemble of state apparatuses and its geopolitical ambitions

Against the backdrop of the international political and economic system’s increasing fragmentation, this article attempts to analyse the geopolitical ambitions of the EU. Currently, the EU strives to become an independent global power. For this purpose, the EU tries to establish greater independence from the US and, to a certain degree, from its Member states. This is closely linked to (a) the emergence of the Euro as a currency competing with the US dollar for the status of the ‘global reserve currency’ and (b) the construction of a common foreign and ‘security’ policy. Taking the German literature on the political economy of the state and on the European Integration, insights from neo-Gramscian International Political Economy, and the ‘scale debate’ in Anglophone geography as point of departure, I analyse the European ensemble of state apparatuses and demonstrate that these ambitions have failed, due to the status quo of a fragmented Europe.

The Transformation of Contemporary Capitalism and the Concept of a Transnational Capitalist Class: A Critical Review in Neo-Poulantzian Perspective

Joachim Hirsch and Jens Wissel question approaches that suggest this class has displaced national states. They develop an alternative approach that stresses how this class is integrated into national power blocs while also being articulated to international institutions, and explore how this balance has changed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

‚Staatsprojekt Europa‘ in der Krise?

In der Europaforschung liegen eine Vielzahl von Untersuchungen zu den einzelnen Institutionen der Europaischen Union, den Politikprozessen in unterschiedlichen Politikfeldern sowie den Europaisierungsprozessen in den Mitgliedstaaten vor, die zum Verstandnis der Europaischen Integration beigetragen haben Eine staatstheoretische Einordnung des Vergemeinschaft ungsprozesses fallt aber nach wie vor schwer.