PhD defence
Elena Escalante Block defended her doctoral thesis The role of actors in the legitimation or delegitimation of MLG structures on 11 March 2021.
Current position
Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp
PhD project
My dissertation investigates when and how EU issues become politicised and depoliticised in Multilevel Governance (MLG). More specifically, the aim is to understand how state aid cases can serve as “trigger moments” in the politicisation/ depoliticisation and legitimation/ delegitimation of the European Union. The main research questions of my PhD thesis are: when and how do state aid cases become (de)politicised? And what is the effect of the politicisation of state aid cases on the legitimacy of the European Union?
- Supervisor: Colin Hay, CEE, Sciences Po Paris
- Co-supervisor: Chris Lord, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo
Secondment
- Clingendael - the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, The Hague
Background
I have previously worked for two years as a Research Assistant at the Electoral Integrity Project. The project, which is based at Harvard University and the University of Sydney, studies the electoral integrity of countries around the world and analyses electoral conditions and malpractices. Both my work as a Research Assistant and my Masters degrees inspired me to pursue academia and study European politics, which is why I decided to apply and ultimately become a part of PLATO. Nationality: Australian and Venezuelan.
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MRes in Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University
- MA in International Relations, University of Sydney
- Dual BA in Journalism and International Relations, University of Queensland
News
Publications
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The politics of legitimation in the EU: legitimacy recovered?The overall conclusions of the PLATO project are available in a joint book with contributions by supervisors and PhD researchers. The book develops a better understanding of how the politics of legitimating the EU are actor-dependent, context-dependent and problem-dependent.
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The politicising spark? Exploring the impact of #MeToo on the gender equality discourse in Australian print mediaElena Escalante-Block has published an article in the Australian Journal of Political Science together with Olga Eisele, Alena Kluknavská and Hajo G Boomgaarden about the impact of #MeToo on the gender equality discourse in Australian print media.
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Will multinationals’ hunger for tax benefits prevail?In this blog post, Elena Escalante Block, evaluates President Joe Biden’s role in the EU’s struggle to prevent international tax avoidance. Has Margrethe Vestager, “the Silicon Valley’s dragon slayer”, gained an ally in her fight against multinationals in Europe?
Post-Crisis Democracy in Europe blog, 21 May 2021
Presentations
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PLATO kick-off conferencePLATO's kick-off conference brings together the project's partners in Oslo for academic discussions and networking.
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PLATO panel at the ECPR conferencePLATO coordinator Chris Lord is chairing a panel with papers by five PLATO PhD researchers as part of the ECPR General Conference in Wroclaw.
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Elena Escalante Block on gender inequalities in media discourseElena Escalante Block will discuss a co-authored paper on the impact of #metoo on Australian media discourses at the EPSA conference in Belfast on 21 June 2019.
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Elena Escalante Block at the Graduate Network ConferenceElena Escalante Block will present a paper at the 11th Graduate Network Conference in London on 10 April 2019.
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Elena Escalante Block on EU politicisation and depoliticisationOn 2 April 2019, Elena Escalante Block discussed her work on processes of politicisation and depoliticisation in the EU at the University of Twente.
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Synthesising research findings (RTC4)ESRs will be presenting their contribution to the PLATO anthology and their overall research results, with an emphasis on the first.
