Call for Abstracts: Conference ‘Whose Values?’, 30 June 2026, Maastricht University

We welcome contributions on all aspects of EU values under Article 2 TEU from all disciplines and methodological traditions. We are particularly interested in the following themes:

1. Defining EU values
   Who defines the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, and through what processes? What roles are played by courts, legislatures, administrative actors, citizens, civil society, private actors, and epistemic communities? How are ‘values’ conceptualised differently across, for example, legal, political, and social contexts? What are the implications of these modes of definition for legitimacy, trust, and democratic governance in the EU?
2. Conceptualisation and interdependence of values 
   How should core values such as human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law be conceptualised? To what extent are these values intrinsically interrelated, and how do different fields (e.g. law, social psychology, history) approach their relations? Can/should they be meaningfully analysed in isolation?
3. Tensions, contestation, limits, and synergies 
   What tensions and synergies emerge between these values, or between competing interpretations of the same value? How are these tensions reflected in political mobilisation, public discourse, or social conflict? To what extent do apparent breaches of values reflect deeper structural disagreements or legitimate contestation? How does the discourse on values articulates societal fault lines and how are the relationships between those values articulated in political and social conflict?
4. Values in legal, political, and societal practice
   How are Article 2 TEU values mobilised across different sites of EU law and governance, and what functions do they perform as instruments of enforcement, coordination, and legitimation in the Union’s constitutional order? How does their function vary across these domains as legally binding norms, as political resources, and as socially embedded reference points? To what extent do these different sites of practice interact, reinforce, or reshape one another in the interpretation and application of these values? Do values operate as constraints, interpretative principles, or instruments of governance differently across these contexts?
5. The Social Construction and Interdisciplinary Contestation of Values
   How are these values understood, constructed, and contested across different disciplines and social settings? To what extent is their meaning mediated by broader social, cultural, and historical processes rather than just through the law? What insights do disciplines such as sociology, political science, anthropology, philosophy, history, and psychology offer regarding how values are internalised, instrumentalised, or resisted across different societies and social groups? Do these perspectives provide insights that explain variation in the perception, uptake, and contestation of Article 2 TEU values across the Union?
6. Values in public and private governance
   How are Article 2 TEU values perceived, interpreted, and operationalised by a range of public and private actors, including state authorities, corporations, digital platforms, NGOs, and other organisational forms? In what ways do these actors internalise, translate, or adapt such values within their own institutional logics and practices? How do values circulate between legal frameworks, organisational routines, and societal expectations, and how are they reshaped in this process?