What happened to the idea of a “social Europe”? Can the European Union still fulfil promises of solidarity and social protection in times of economic crises and globalisation? And why has the narrative of a shared European social model increasingly come under pressure in recent years?
We invite you to a public lecture by Michele Mioni from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, whose research explores the political and intellectual foundations of the “European Social Model”, its role in shaping post-1989 visions of European integration, and the tensions between welfare, globalisation, and the EU project.
Date and time: Thursday, 4 June 2026, 16:00–17:30
Location: Faculty of Arts, Charles University (nám. Jana Palacha 1/2, Prague 1), room 209.
Registration: HERE
The lecture will be followed by a discussion.
The event will be held in English. Admission is free and registration is required.
Annotation:
The open lecture aims to provide an overview of the making and historical evolution of the concept of “European Social Model” as a political-ideological construction to prompt the integration and enlargement of the European Union over the last forty years. Intellectuals, academics, technocrats, political parties and unions, indeed, imagined a European identity through social policy to mobilize European societies in the key moments of the integration process. This discourse relied on the post-war western European models of welfare state, citizenship and social dialogue, and it was meant to cement a transversal consensus to the EU project during a historical time of political and economic transitions worldwide after 1989. Over the years, however, the perceived shortcomings of the European policies in fulfilling the promises of social protection and participation, and the effects of international and economic crises increasingly called into question the narrative of the “European social model”.
By looking at the history of this notion, the lecture engages with questions of public concern, such as the tensions between globalisation, European integration, and the welfare state.
The lecture is part of the project The European Social Model: Theories, Concepts, Ideology and the European Integration Process, 1980s–2010s (EUROSOCIAL).
About the speaker
Michele Mioni is concerned with the history of social policies and of labour. He is researcher at Ca’ Foscari University, where is principal investigator for the PNRR MUR-funded project The European Social Model: Theories, Concepts, Ideology and the European Integration Process, 1980s–2010s (EUROSOCIAL). He published on the links between war and social policy, including the Cold War in Europe and post-colonial areas, on the mixed economy of welfare, and on corporatism and the trade unions. He is currently doing research on social policy and the European integration, and on the history workers’ educational associations.
The event is organised by Cold War Research Group, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in cooperation with the ERA-AREAS project, which supports the development of research and teaching in area studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.
