“Rocznik Europeistyczny” (The Annals of European Studies) is a journal in which we are planning to publish papers devoted to European Studies, that is, studies of both the Europe that “should be united” and into that part of Europe that has already been united. It is clear that the papers will address issues within the fields of politics, law, history, economics, cultural studies and related disciplines.
Above all, the journal will prefer those papers, studies and scientific contributions that will fulfil the tasks connected with the mission of European Studies: studies on the European civilisation and cultural area, on the political and cultural area (European Studies in the broad sense) as well as on the European Union and its areas of activity/policies (European Studies in the narrow sense); areas constituting the particular domain of Europeanist knowledge.
“The Annals of European Studies” thereby wish to reflect the conviction that the community of Europeanists, starting from studies from the perspectives of political science, social science, economics, law, history, etc., has developed a subject matter that is proper to European Studies and described in the Europeanist language (as evidenced by numerous Europeanist lexicons), with a specific catalogue of research topics; that it has developed its own specificity of European Studies, justifying the statement that European Studies have achieved a high degree of identity.
Consequently, “The Annals of European Studies” prefer those elements of scientific studies that will be based on theoretical and methodological approaches showing that European Studies have gone beyond the paradigm of interdisciplinarity and have entered into paradigmatic Europeanist knowledge (synthesized multidisciplinary knowledge), remaining open to the achievements of other disciplines. What is more, the journal will prefer those studies that will be based on the knowledge complex characteristic of European Studies: theories, concepts, methodology and research methods.
Especially in the studies on the European Union and the areas of its activity/policies (European studies in the narrow sense), the Europeanist specificity of the subject matter can be clearly delimited. In such studies, the European Union is treated, especially from the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon onwards, not as a simple conglomerate of countries, but as a unified subject of international law and an autonomous subject of international relations, a sui generis international organization, where intergovernmental institutions are inextricably connected through legal and institutional relationships with transnational institutions (interrelation between member states).
The dynamic of the European Union, a unique experiment in integration which went beyond the free trade zone, which requires that economic integration is perceived as inextricably connected with political integration and thus taking into account its institutional and legal forms and seeking interaction with the European defence community, necessitates an inter-, trans- and especially multidisciplinary approach to European Studies.
This is connected with another specific characteristic of European Studies: the combination of methodological individualism with the holistic approach, the shift from perceiving the European Union’s political and legal system through the prism of the essence, goals, characteristics, tasks and functions of a national state towards “Europeanisation”: transferring European Union’s political, legal, socio-economic and axiological and cultural solutions to European countries. This is naturally connected with the reciprocal process: perceiving a state in integration processes in the context of its changing functions and the principle of divided sovereignty, perceiving integration processes in terms of tensions between intergovernmentalism and supranationality, rejection of the Eurocentric approach while perceiving the European reality in global conditions.
Therefore, in their studies on European integration Europeanists not only draw on the theories created by other scientific disciplines, but since the beginning of the 21st century they have also developed general theories specific to European studies: neofunctionalism, neo-neofunctionalism, intergovernmentalism, as well as specialised theories: inter-supranational federalism, multi-level governance, fusion-thesis, theory of Europeanisation, delegation, etc. These theories have research methods specific only to European Studies (e.g. comitology).
“The Annals of European Studies” are committed to ensuring that the results of the scientific work presented therein reflect the aforementioned specificity of the theoretical and methodological approach.
“The Annals of European Studies” are open to the whole Europeanist community in Poland and abroad; works on European Studies can be published not only in Polish but also in English. The quality of these works is watched over by the Scientific Board comprising the most distinguished Polish Europeanists and the Editorial Team selected from among the members of the Department of European Studies of University of Wrocław.
When preparing our periodical, we were guided by the principle of intergenerational cooperation in the dynamic process of shaping the essence, character and specificity of European Studies: apart from scientific works of prominent, independent academics, there are papers from young entrants to the European Studies. We also wish to publish, in addition to papers and studies, reviews of outstanding publications devoted to European studies in the narrow and broad sense, as well as information on international conferences significant to the development of European Studies.
We wish you a good reading and welcome your contribution.
Editorial Team
Abstracts of articles published in Rocznik Europeistyczny are in the Scientific Journals in the Web (CNS) database, as well as Digital Libraries Federation (FBC) and Europeana.
ISSN: 2450-274X