In terms of research, the Eugène Pierre Chair is part of an exploratory approach to representative democracy in its procedural and substantive dimensions at local, national, European and international levels.
Drawing on several academic disciplines such as public law, political science, history of law and political ideas, economics and statistics, and sociology, the research conducted by the Eugène Pierre Chair is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary dimension. Focusing on local, national, European and international deliberative assemblies and their environment, the Chair's activities are thus partly related to constitutional law, European law and the law of local authorities and are likely to involve the laboratories of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, just as they are part of the research organized by the Laval and Luxembourg Chairs.
Research involving the laboratories of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Aix-Marseille University
The Facultyof Law and Political Science is developing research of excellence around theRights, Powers and Societies Research Federation, which includes 2 Joint Research Units (UMR), 10 Host Teams (EA), including a team from the IEP of Aix, and theDoctoral School 67 "Legal and Political Sciences". Among all these laboratories, the Chair's researchers are mainly attached toUMR7318, International, Comparative and European Law (DICE).
Coordinated research between the Chairs
Stimulating research requires the formation of international and multidisciplinary teams. To this end, the existence in Canada, Luxembourg and France of three Chairs with similar disciplines and scientific themes and similar objectives makes it possible to optimize the experience and scientific skills of researchers on these subjects.
The Research Chair in Parliamentary Studies of the University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), the Research Chair in Democracy and Parliamentary Institutions of Laval University (Canada) and the Eugène Pierre Chair of Aix-Marseille University thus offer a common academic and multidisciplinary reflection (public law, political science, social sciences) while maintaining their own fields of expertise.
The objective is to participate, in collaboration, in the elaboration of expert reports, to supervise doctoral students in cotutelle and to promote scientific reflection through the publication of academic and general public works.
https://www.democratie.chaire.ulaval.ca/index.php
https://wwwfr.uni.lu/chaire_parlementaire
Research areas
The collaboration between the three Research Chairs is mainly organized around the following themes
- Parliaments and public policy evaluation offices;
- Parliaments and comparative constitutional innovations;
- Parliaments, ethics and science;
- Economic Governance & National Parliaments.
More generally, the research activities of the Eugène Pierre Chair are developed around three main axes:
- The deliberative axis questions parliamentary law, the law of local assemblies, the making of the norm, the organizational, structural and functional aspects, the procedures;
- The political axis examines political life, the status of elected officials, political parties, ethical and transparency issues, the evolution of participatory democracy, new ways of exercising democracy;
- The electoral axis examines elections and their disputes, electoral systems, the dynamic evolution of the electorate and aspects relating to representation, representativeness and electoral legitimacy.
The main objective of the Eugène Pierre Chair is to create a database on deliberative assemblies, their organization and functioning in order to set up a documentary watch.
Applied research work is part of this operational objective, making it possible to monitor trends and good practices in both the French-speaking and Mediterranean worlds and to promote their dissemination and the development of new operational models and tools.
The literature watch feeds into customised research studies for the Chair's partners and identifies areas of research that enrich academic work.
These meetings between university researchers encourage scientific exchange and the renewal of ideas. Students are also a privileged audience, as they are made aware of the importance of research and its results in a field that is essential for democracy.
Within the framework of the work carried out by the Research Chair in Parliamentary Studies of the University of Luxembourg over the period 2018-2023, and the four funded themes (Parliaments and the Office of Public Policy Assessment; Parliaments and Comparative Constitutional Innovations; Economic Governance and National Parliaments; Parliaments, Ethics and Science), four major colloquia will be organized. This will be an opportunity to present the results of research and to exchange views on these subjects with specialist researchers as well as practitioners interested in the work of the doctrine.
International colloquia involving the three chairs are organized periodically at each university site. Two colloquia are planned:
- Parliaments and the evaluation of public policies - Luxembourg - 2020 [postponed due to Covid].
- Innovations & constitutional reforms in Europe - Luxembourg - 2021
- Parliaments grappling with sovereignty and subsidiarity - Luxembourg - 23 and 24 September 2021
The publishing partner of the Research Chair in Parliamentary Studies of the University of Luxembourg, Editions Larcier, enables the publication of academic works but also the restitution of the results produced by the research concerning the four strands of research carried by the Chair. Since July 2012, the Parliamentary Studies Collection published by Editions Bruylant, Groupe Larcier, has been launched under the direction of Professor Philippe Poirier.
The Presses Universitaires de Provence is also a medium for disseminating academic and general public works via the "Espaces publics" collection. The multidisciplinary dimension of the collection authorizes the publication of works on the issues dealt with by the Eugène Pierre Chair.
In general, the publications of the members of the Eugène Pierre Chair will be published on its website. Some examples :
-Eugène Pierre, precursor of contemporary parliamentary law(Colloquium Aix-en-Provence, 18 November 2016), Richard Ghevontian (ed.), Proceedings published Bruylant 2019;
-Constitutional law, Eric Oliva and Sandrine Giummarra, 9th ed, Sirey Paris 2017 ;
-Parliament since 2008, (Colloque Aix-en-Provence 8 June 2018), Sophie de Cacqueray, Sophie Hutier and Sophie Lamouroux (dir.), Actes publiés Fondation Varennes 2019 (corrected version) ;
-Presiding over the Republic (Colloque Aix-en-Provence of 13 and 14 December 2018), Eric Gasparini and Julien Sausse (dir.), Actes publiés PUAM, 2021.
