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Jean Monnet Chair European Borders

Acknowledgements

European Commission Logo

The Jean Monnet Chair — named after one of the main architects of European integration, Jean Monnet (1888–1979) — is designed to promote excellence in teaching and research in the field of European Studies. It is awarded through a competitive selection by the European Commission, through its Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), as part of the ERASMUS+ programme.

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The RADAR project — from January 2024 to December 2026 — has been designed to work as if a radar, which scans and detects how EU Mediterranean borders are managed. This is done by accounting both for the security dimension — which tends to dominate — and the ethical one that is too often left off the screen.

Overview of the Project

Funded under the Erasmus+ Programme (ERASMUS-JMO-2023-CHAIR — no. 101127065), the Jean Monnet Chair on EUropean Borders: Security, Solidarity, Responsibility devotes attention to border (in)security along the Central Mediterranean Sea. What does it mean to protect southern EU borders? How does, and should, the EU deal with unauthorised border-crossers? Who are the ‘border-crossers’ against whom the EU is erecting physical, legal, and social barriers? Does the EU bear legal, and ethical, responsibility for the deaths that occur along its Mediterranean maritime borders?

These questions anchor three years of teaching, research, and outreach, combining a political and ethical perspective that asks not only how borders are managed and secured, but what role solidarity, humanitarianism, and responsibility do — or should — play in that management.

The Chair’s geographical focus is the EU, and it deliberately spells ‘EUrope’ / ‘EUropean’ throughout its work: a reminder, drawn from current critical literature, that EUrope cannot be reduced to the institutions of the EU, and that ‘Europe’ and ‘the EU’ — too often used interchangeably in everyday language — are not the same thing.

Meet the Chair & Team

The Jean Monnet Chair holder and four scholars working alongside her across international relations, law, political economy and philosophy.

Prof. Raffaela Puggioni

Prof. Raffaela Puggioni

Jean Monnet Chair Holder · Full Professor, School of International Affairs · Executive Director, Centre for European Studies

Dr. Raffaela Puggioni is Full Professor at the School of International Affairs and Executive Director of the Centre for European Studies. She has sixteen years of teaching experience in International Studies/Political Science in countries as diverse as Italy, China, Azerbaijan and India. Between 2021–2023, she has awarded two-year Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship—carried out at LUISS University (Rome)—where she investigated the relation between COVID-19 emergency, (im)mobility and the liberal subject.

Her work is broadly situated in the disciplines of International Relations Theory, Political Theory, Resistance Studies and Border Studies, with a geographical focus on EUrope. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Refugee Studies, Political Studies, Citizenship Studies, Third World Quarterly, Global Society, Journal of Borderlands Studies, Politics, Thesis Eleven, Open Research Europe, Philosophies, and a monograph, Rethinking International Protection, was published by Palgrave in 2016.

Prof. Vesselin Popovski

Prof. Dr. Vesselin Popovski

Founding Executive Director, Centre for UN Studies · Vice Dean, Jindal Global Law School

In 2004-2014 Senior Academic Officer, Head of ‘Peace and Governance’ Programme at UNU, Tokyo. Prior to that Co-Director of EU project ‘Legal Protection of Individual Rights in Russia’ and Assistant Professor, Exeter University, UK. Ph.D. King’s College London; M.Sc. London School of Economics; B.A./M.A. Moscow Institute of International Affairs. Over twenty books, among them Re-Imagination of International Legal Order (2023); Fulfilling the SDGs (2021); Global Approaches to Peace (2019); Implementation of Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2018); Emotions in International Politics (2016); Security Council as Global Legislator (2014); International Rule of Law and Professional Ethics (2014); Legality and Legitimacy in Global Affairs (2012); World Religions and Norms of War (2009); International Criminal Accountability and Child Rights (2006). Co-writer of ‘Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity’ (2021); ‘Responsibility to Protect’ ICISS Report (2001); ‘Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction’ (2000). Bulgarian Ex-Diplomat.

Dr. Oleksandr Svitych

Dr. Oleksandr Svitych

Associate Professor, School of International Affairs · Founding member, JSIA Centre for Political Economy and Philosophy

Dr. Svitych is a political economist with interests in political and economic sociology, political philosophy, and critical social theory. His main research orientation is the relationship between markets and social stability in the context of the current international economic order. Additionally, he is interested in martial arts studies. Dr. Svitych is the author of The Rise of the Capital-state and Neo-nationalism: A New Polanyian Moment published by Brill’s Global Populisms series. His research has also appeared in such outlets as Globalizations, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Review of International Political Economy, and The International Journal of the History of Sport, among others. Dr. Svitych is a proponent of radical and engaged pedagogy.

Dr. Silvia Bottega

Dr. Silvia Bottega

Associate Professor, School of International Affairs · PhD, University of Turin

Dr. Silvia Bottega, a political scientist with a PhD from the University of Turin, is currently serving as an Associate Professor at JSIA. Her research interests encompass regional security architectures in Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as the impact of wars and asymmetric conflicts on women and the general population, the ethics of refugee protection in the Middle East and in Europe. She has taught a wide range of courses including Foreign Policy Analysis, Military Alliances and Defence Diplomacy, International Relations Theory, and International Public Law. She is also teaching M.A. in International Relations, Security and Strategy programme offered through Coursera. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Dr. Bottega has also been actively involved in international collaborations, coordinating Summer and Winter Schools and contributing/leading to the establishment of Study Abroad programmes at JSIA.

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Kadambi

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Kadambi

Professor, School of International Affairs · Ph.D., Brown University

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Kadambi is Professor at JSIA. After obtaining his Ph.D. from Brown University (U.S.A.), he has been with O.P. Jindal Global University where he teaches political theory/political philosophy from a comparative philosophical and ethical perspective. His research attempts to theorize human experience from its culturality. Rajeev is currently finishing his manuscript on M.K. Gandhi’s ethical thought, which examines Gandhi’s reconstruction of traditions as forms of action and knowledge.

Teaching

The teaching activities, so far, organised can be divided into three types:

  • Four-credit courses, amounting to 45 hours per semester
  • Ad hoc classes focusing on selected topics, closely related to EU Studies, incorporated in existing courses
  • Discussion series open to all JGU students

The following four-credit courses have been offered by the chair (Prof. Puggioni)

This course has offered students an overview of the historical trajectory of the European integration process as well as in-depth discussion of selected EU polices including the single market and the monetary policy, migration and security, EU enlargement, and European neighbourhood policy.

This course offered a critical analyse of the way in which European borders have been challenged, contested and transgressed in response to the many barriers, fences, frontiers that EU countries have erected during the past two decades. Attention will be mostly on the acts of resistance, solidarity and humanitarianism that border-people and migrants networks have enacted.

This course has been designed in such a way of making students debate migration issues — by looking at questions of identity, integration, national protections, citizenship and solidarity. The ultimate aim of the course was to stimulate reflection also to current debate in India on citizenship following the 2019 Constitutional Amendment.

This course critically analysed European borders by combining theory and practice, that is how security shapes and govern border policies and how migrants, NGOs, local people and the court count dominant security approach, and transform EU borders also into a humanitarian (border)space.

The aim of the course is to critically discuss European borders and the meaning of (in)security. Whose life do states make secure? How do state protect their borders? Against which threats? While the first part focusses traditional International Relations (IR) concepts—such as order, sovereignty and (in)security—the second part devotes attention to border (counter-)practices.

This course has been organised into three parts: while the first part offers a general overview of the migratory phenomenon, with special attention to the way in which different groups of migrants are recognised different rights and protection; the second and third parts focus attention to EU migration management by looking at both policies and practices.

The following Ad hoc classes have been offered by team members

Dr. Oleksandr Svitych has dedicated 30 hours (15 hours in Fall 2024 and 15 hours in Spring 2025) as part of his (elective) course on “Populism, Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in the 21st century”—engaging a total of 106 students. The following topics/issues have been taught/discussed:

  • Approaches to populism (3 hours x 2 semesters): Theorizations of populism as an ideology, a political strategy, a style, and a discourse, including readings from the European scholars.
  • Populism across the world (3 hours x 2 semesters): What are the major cleavages (socio-economic, such as inequality, and socio-cultural, such as immigration) which enabled the rise of populism across Europe? What was the role of political opportunity structures (party organization, party competition, media) and political entrepreneurship (personalistic leadership, charisma, rhetorical strategies) that explain populists’ electoral breakthrough and success? From a comparative perspective, what are the differences with the Latin American, North American, and Asian contexts?
  • Populism and democracy (3 hours x 2 semesters): The origins, definition, and approaches to the concept of democracy. The values of democracy (intrinsic and instrumental). The state of democracy in Europe (measurement and its critique). Populism as both a threat to and a corrective for (liberal) democracy.
  • Populism and fascism (3 hours x 2 semesters): Approaches to fascism in the history and political science literatures. Fascism as a regime, an ideology, a movement. Populism and fascism: commonalities and differences.
  • Populism and cosmopolitanism (3 hours x 2 semesters): The origins of cosmopolitanism as both an empirical phenomenon and a normative concept. Cosmopolitanism as an identity and responsibility (moral and political). Cosmopolitanism and populism: tensions and synergies. De-Westernizing cosmopolitanism and world (non-European) cosmopolitanisms.

During class presentations, some 14 students—in five different presentations—have specifically focused on Europe/EU: Giorgia Meloni and Brothers of Italy; Marine le Pen and National Rally; Volodymyr Zelensky and Servant of the People; Benito Mussolini and National Fascist Party; and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Prof. Dr. Vesselin Popovski has dedicated 16 hours (during the Spring and Fall semesters 2024-25) in his regular cross-elective course on “Law and Practice of the United Nations” on the following themes: The European Union and the United Nations System; International Human Rights and the EU Mechanisms of their protection and promotion; The Responsibility to Protect doctrine after the Russian Invasion in Ukraine. A total of 116 students enrolled in this course.

In Fall 2024, as part of the “Law and Justice in Globalized World” — compulsory for the LLM in International Law— Dr. Vesselin Popovski has dedicated 6 hours (3 classes) on the EU Law and the European Convention of Human Rights and its Court in Strasbourg. A total of 52 students attended and 6 of them made class presentations on various European human rights case law during these 3 classes.

Dr. Silvia Bottega has dedicated 24 hours (Spring 2024) as part of her two (cross-elective) courses: “Mediterranean Politics” and “Europe in the Indo-Pacific”—engaging a total of 36 students. Brief courses overview:

Mediterranean Politics: The course provided students with an in-depth exploration of the political processes that shaped the conceptualization of “the Mediterranean”—whether as a singular geopolitical entity or a mosaic of distinct subregions. It introduced students to the diverse political structures, geopolitical imperatives, and inter-state relationships defining the littoral states across the region. Particular attention was devoted to how actors—especially the European Union—had formulated and adapted their approaches to Mediterranean affairs. Furthermore, the course critically examined enduring conflicts and unresolved regional challenges, evaluating not only the actions of sovereign states but also the influence exerted by non-state actors.

Europe in the Indo-Pacific: This course sought to examine the strategic and geopolitical imperatives of both individual European states and the European Union as a collective entity within the Indo-Pacific region. Over time, several European nations—including France, Germany, and the Netherlands—had independently devised strategies for engaging in the Indo-Pacific region. Only after has the European Union formulated its own comprehensive approach.

Prof. Dr. Rajeev Kadambi has dedicated 174 hours (54 hours during Spring 2024 and 2025, and 66 hours during Fall 2024) as part of his (core) courses on “Political Philosophy II” and “Political Philosophy I”—engaging a total of 148 students. Brief courses overview:

Political Philosophy I: Key texts in political thought have been analysed, looking specifically at its transformation during modern time with special attention to ethics. It explored various arrangements of collective life from a close reading of key Western and non-Western texts by Socrates/Plato, Aristotle, M.K. Gandhi, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Ambedkar.

Political Philosophy II: Pursued the relation between politics and ethics in the earlier part of the course. The course situated the formation of key political concepts in the historical, cultural, social, and economic transformation of the West in the 16th and mid-seventeenth C.E. It read select works of thinkers like Jean Bodin, Carl Schmitt, G.W.F. Hegel, Max Weber, Immanuel Kant, Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls, J.S. Mill, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault, M.K. Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Sigmund Freud.

The following discussion series have been organised and made open to all JGU students

Protecting Borders or Protecting People?

Coordinated by Prof. Dr. Vesselin Popovski · 5 sessions · 2 hours each

A very short overview:

The norm ‘Responsibility to Protect (R2P)’—adopted by the United Nations in 2005—has been a shift in the way of thinking about humanitarian intervention. It focuses less on the national interests of states, intervening on humanitarian ground, rather on the vital interests of populations, exposed to mass atrocities and humanitarian crises.

  1. 21 Aug 2024Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
  2. 28 Aug 2024Historical Examples of R2P: Policies and Practices in the EU
  3. 04 Sep 2024R2P and the Right to International Solidarity
  4. 11 Sep 2024Protecting Borders or Protecting People? Border Security and People’s Solidarity in the EU
  5. 18 Sep 2024Nationalism, Populism and Challenges with Forced Migration in the EU

EU Borders: Visual Narratives

Coordinated by Prof. Raffaela Puggioni · 3 sessions · 2 hours each

A very short overview:

Borders are often seen simply as geographical lines that separates sovereign states. But territorial lines are more than this: they shape identity, cohesion, sense of belonging but also difference and conflict. In this series, we explored (European) borders through visual images.

  1. 26 Feb 2025Where are EU Borders?
  2. 05 Mar 2025Invisible Borders
  3. 12 Mar 2025Which Humanitarian Borders?

International Solidarity

Coordinated by Prof. Dr. Vesselin Popovski · 6 sessions · 2 hours each

  1. 26 Feb 2025Historical Origin of International Solidarity: The European Enlightenment
  2. 05 Mar 2025Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and International Solidarity
  3. 12 Mar 2025The Right to International Solidarity as a Third-Generation Human Right
  4. 19 Mar 2025The EU Parliament Resolutions on International Solidarity
  5. 26 Mar 2025Challenges to Solidarity: Nationalism, Populism, Migration Debates
  6. 05 Apr 2025Summary Discussion: The Way Ahead

Research

RADAR’s research deepens and broadens the study of European borders by examining border management, EU dialogue on border security, and the ethical and legal questions raised by search-and-rescue operations. It approaches migration, asylum, citizenship, identity, and inclusion from an interdisciplinary standpoint, drawing on International Relations Theory, Migration and Border Studies, Political Philosophy, and International Law.

Special attention will be devoted to border ethical perspective. This is done by asking — with particular urgency since the war in Ukraine — which ethical commitments EU institutions and member states actually apply, to whom, and with what consequences for the EU’s credibility both inside and outside Europe. Empirically, this means tracking the official debate within EU institutions; theoretically, it means testing whether border security might be approached ethically, not simply by investigating how NGOs and local communities are involved along the borders but also how EU values and principles shape accountability and responsibility.

Publications

Puggioni, Raffaela. 2026. “B/ordering humanitarian action: the (in)security of SAR operations in Italy.” Special Issue on Behind the Gates: Exploring Gatekeepers of (Im)Mobility across EU Mediterranean Borders, edited by Stefania Panebianco & Iole Fontana. Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2026.2723011 ↗

Puggioni, Raffaela & Maria Julia Trombetta. 2025. “B/Ordering Emotions: Fear, Insecurity and Hope.” Special Issue on Borders, (Im)mobility and the Everyday, edited by Raffaela Puggioni, Sweta Sen & Christine Moliner. Societies 15, no. 6: 168.

doi.org/10.3390/soc15060168 ↗

Puggioni, Raffaela. 2025. “Reading the COVID-19 emergency with and beyond Foucault: The liberal subject and everyday practices of mobility.” Politics 45(1): 54–68.

doi.org/10.1177/02633957221130263 ↗

Puggioni, Raffaela. 2024. “Coming out as undocumented. Identity celebrations and political change.” Societies 14(7), 130.

doi.org/10.3390/soc14070130 ↗

Puggioni, Raffaela. 2024. “Emergency, solidarity and responsibility. The ethics of the face-to-face (border) encounters.” Journal of Borderlands Studies, 39(1): 1–16.

doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2021.2017786 ↗

Puggioni, Raffaela. 2024. “COVID-19 and (ir)responsible (im)mobility: Reading counter-practices through Levinas and Derrida” [version 2; peer review: 3 approved]. Open Research Europe 4 (2).

doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16686.2 ↗

Students Research Contributions

Student projects and contributions will be updated here soon.

Activities/Events

FLAGSHIP EVENT: Since its launch in 2024, our flagship event, the EU Week, has been both a celebration of Europe's history and culture and a forum for open debate on the challenges facing the Union today. Each edition has explored a different theme, bringing students, scholars and diplomats together on campus. In 2025 the event was renamed Agorà to underline its spirit of conversation and exchange.

2024 European Week 2024

European Week: The European Integration Project

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2025 European Week 2025

EU Week (AGORÁ 25) — Visions of Europe

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2026 AGORA 2026

AGORÁ 2026: Conversations Beyond Borders

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