Ideas and the Evolution of the ’Fifth Freedom’: Researcher Mobility in the European Research Area

Sted: ARENA – Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo

Meng-Hsuan Chou, Post-doctoral Research Fellow

This project identifies the origin, and explains the evolution, of the ’fifth freedom’ – researcher mobility – in the formation of the European Research Area. Using an analytical framework derived from insights concerning the impact of ideas on political processes, it provides an account of how ideas drive cooperation in sensitive policy field within European integration where the boundaries of regulatory competence are constantly being drawn and re-drawn. I will argue that, in policy sectors where supranational competence is ambiguous or contested, ideas – defined as blueprints for the proposed action – may become powerful tools with which political actors advance cooperation in unfamiliar legislative terrains commonly considered to be a national prerogative; indeed, resulting in outcomes later seen as transformative. This is not to contend that ideas are epiphenomenal to interests, but, instead, to illustrate how it may be more fruitful to consider the interaction between ideas and interests as a significant source from which forward momentum in complex political processes are generated.