Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI)

ZEI’s research and teaching emphasis on “Governance and Regulation in the EU” brings together two aspects whose critical interplay shapes the EU, its impact on citizens’ lives and its role globally. Transdisciplinary perspectives on the important relationship between governance and regulation offer greater insight and clarity into the increasingly complex process of European integration.

Governance encompasses a broad assortment of factors involved in the process of governing; how decisions, rules and norms are made and how external actors attempt to influence the process of governing. In comparison, regulation is more tangible and prescribes official methods and standards. Regulation is generated for public interest yet as it profoundly affects citizens, it must be legitimate. Governance gives legitimacy to regulation and regulation is necessary to ensure the functioning of the internal market of the European Union and the larger project of European integration. Regulation is a necessary and important feature of the complex process of governing in the EU.

This dynamic interplay between governance and regulation in the EU serves as the touch stone for research, teaching and consulting work conducted at ZEI.

The ZEI Directors conduct research, provide political and legal consulting, and offer further education training. ZEI researchers regularly publish monographs, articles in peer reviewed journals, newspaper articles, and contribute to their own publication series. ZEI coordinates and participates in research projects, hosts visiting researchers, holds discussions and dialogues and offers mid-career training programs.