Together with her co-author Natasha Wunsch, EDP Network member Solveig Richter was awarded the Best Article Prize 2020 by the Arbeitskreis Europäische Integration e.V. (Association for European Integration) and the Schader-Stiftung. The prize was presented on 19 November 2020 during an online conference on the European single market held by both organizations.

Solveig Richter and Natasha Wunsch received the award for their article “Money, power, glory: the linkages between EU conditionality and state capture in the Western Balkans” published earlier this year in the Journal of European Public Policy. It highlights the ambivalent effects of the EU’s political conditionality towards potential member states which can lead to formal compliance with European norms and standards, but, at the same time, stagnating or even declining democratic performance.

In the University of Leipzig’s college magazine (in German), you can read more about the topics dealt with in the awarded article, Solveig Richter’s own academic career and why she hopes to have taught a lot of future Nobel Peace Prize winners in her courses. Solveig also shares some insights about her Heisenberg-project “Blended legitimacy” on non-state actors in post-conflict societies, their patterns of informal governance and their acceptance within the local population.