HOME	CV			Academic Publications		Commentaries
	Welcome This homepage presents my work as a political scientist based at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. My work focuses on the application of classical insights and conceptions from political theory to contemporary political challenges. In particular, I examine how the internationalization of politics, and European integration in particular, challenges established political theoretical insights. Thus, key themes in my research are the EU democratic deficit, inter-parliamentary coordination, accountability in international politics, EU institutional reform, and transnational social justice. I publish on these issues in academic articles as well as in policy reports and commentary pieces. Currently, I participate in the EU-sponsored RECONNECT-project, where I lead a work package on democratic principles in the EU and under what conditions these are threatened by new populist parties. Earlier I worked at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, the University of Twente and Research voor Beleid in Leiden, a firm for policy-oriented research and consultancy.
Ben Crum Department of Political Science Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV  Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel +31 20 5986821 Fax +31 20 5986821 B.J.J.Crum@vu.nl www.bencrum.nl
			Practices of Inter-Parliamentary Coordination in International Politics. The European Union and Beyond This volume, edited by John Erik Fossum (ARENA/ U.Oslo) and me, provides a thorough empirical examination of how an internationalising context drives parliamentarians to engage in inter-parliamentary coordination and how it affects their power positions vis-à-vis executive actors, among themselves, and in society in general. Building upon these empirical insights, the book assesses whether parliamentary democracy can remain sustainable under these changing conditions. Indeed, if parliaments are, and remain, central to our understanding of modern democracy, it is of crucial importance to track their responses to internationalisation, the fragmentation of political sovereignty, and the proliferation of multilevel politics.
			In 2012, my book Learning from the EU Constitutional Treaty came out with Routledge. This research monograph provides a comprehensive analysis of the making of the Constitutional Treaty and the subsequent Treaty of Lisbon. It uses this analysis to develop an original political theory of democratic constitutionalization beyond the nation-state, which maintains that international organizations can be put on democratic foundations, but only by properly engaging national political structures. For a summary of the main argument, see my post for The EUDO Café. Reviews succeeds in blending normative and empirical insights in a manner that will make it an indispensable reference on the EU's constitutional debates of the past decade – and a worthwhile point of departure for those (inevitably) yet to come. Robert Harmsen in the Journal of Common Market Studies provides a good reconstruction of the EU’s journey towards increased legitimacy and makes a highly original contribution to the normative debate on the post-governmental legitimacy of the EU. Diana Panke in West European Politics
	Recent Academic publications
	*	with L. Kinski, ‘Transnational Representation in EU National Parliaments’, Online first in Political Studies (2019).
	*	with T. Palm, Military operations and the EU’s identity as an international security actor. European Security (2019), 28(4), 513-534.
	*	‘Parliamentary accountability in multilevel governance: What role for parliaments in post-crisis EU economic governance?’, Journal of European Public Policy 25(2) (2018): 268-86.
	More Academic Publications ...
	Recent Commentaries and blogs
	*	with L. Kinski, ‘Transnational Representation – How members of national parliaments in the European Union also speak for other EU nationals’, PSA Blog, 13 June 2019.
	*	‘De onzichtbare macht van het Europees Parlement’, Helling (2019) 32(1): 16-21.
	*	with A. Oleart, and P. Overeem, ‘ Three Cautionary Notes on the Identification of Democratic Backsliding (and Democratic Renewal)’, RECONNECT Blog, 2 April 2019.
	*	‘Making Democracy a Priority in EU Economic Governance: Four theses on the foundations of the T-DEM project (Piketty et al.)’, European Papers (2018) 3(1): 59-65.
	More Commentaries ...
	Video
	EU Parliamentarism as a “Multilevel Parliamentary Field”, presentation at the PADEMIA-Workshop on ‘Multilevel Democracy’, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/ACCESS EUROPE, 30 and 31 October 2014.
	‘The Democratic Dilemma of Monetary Union’, presentation at the 2012 EUDO Dissemination Conference ‘The Euro Crisis and the State of European Democracy’, European University Institute, Florence, 22 and 23 November 2012. [Accompanying slides]
	Audio
	Wat zegt de deal met Griekenland over de staat van de EU?				BNR Nieuwsradio, 14/7/2015: 10u34
	Stand.nl: Europa is te streng voor de Grieken				NPO Radio 1, 13/7/2015: 11u21
	Stand.nl: Het is belangrijk dat de Britten in de EU blijven				NPO Radio 1, 8/5/2015: 11u21
	Griekse hervormingsplannen voor verlenging Europese leningen				NPO Radio 1, 24/2/2015: 8u10
	Europese onderhandelingen over nieuwe lening voor Griekenland				NPO Radio 1, 19/2/2015: 17u45
	Topbenoemingen Europese Unie: Tusk en Mogherini				NPO Radio 1, 30/9/2014: 8u10
	[In Dutch] On the British threat to hold a referendum on EU membership conditions, BNR Nieuwsradio 10 July 2012.