Elena Escalante Block

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.

• 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

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