Academic title: Professor

CV | I am a Professor of Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles, a member of CEVIPOL and an affiliate member of Institut d’études européennes (IEE-ULB). Since 2023, I am also a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and a member of the PhD school in political science of the Faculty of political science (University of Bucharest). Born in Brasov, Romania, I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Bucharest at the FSPUB (2001). In 2000, I joined the ULB as an Erasmus student in Political Science. It was in Brussels that I discovered my passion for European studies after taking a few courses at the IEE-ULB. After my Erasmus stay, I completed a Master’s degree in European Politics at ULB’s Institute, during which time I was also a Robert Schuman intern at the European Parliament. After this extremely rewarding experience, I was appointed assistant in political science at ULB, where I began a PhD in 2003. I hold a DEA in Political Science from the ULB (2004) and obtained the title of Doctor in Political and Social Sciences from the same university in 2008. My doctoral thesis (under the supervision of prof. Jean-Michel de Waele) focused on justice reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on Romania. In 2008/2009, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Research Institute on Judicial Systems (IRSIG-CNR) in Bologna, Italy. As an IEE-ULB alumna (class of 2003) it has been an honour for me to serve as President (2009-2023) and Director (2014-2019) of the Institut d’études européennes of the ULB.

Principal Investigator of the Horizon Europe projects RED-SPINEL (“Responding to Emerging Dissensus: Supranational Instruments and Norms of European Democracy”, 2022-2025) and the GEM-DIAMOND Marie Sklodowska Curie Action Joint Doctorate Network.

As of October 2024, I coordinate with Prof. Paul Dermine the ULB Mini Arc Research Grant entitled “Is the EU’s fiscal capacity transforming its member states? Insights from the Recovery Resilience Facility and Cohesion Policy?”

Research interests: Contestation of liberal democracy with a focus on actors (think tanks and parties), The impact of dissensus over liberal democracy on the functionning of the EU institutions and EU’s capacity to act, The EU’s rule of law policy and instruments and their domestic impacts, Judicial reforms and judges mobilisations, EU institutions (European Parliament, Commission, Council and European Council), Dynamics of policy/institutional change, Democratization and Europeanization, The circulation of liberal/illiberal in the UE

Courses taught at sections: Școala Doctorală

Recent publications:

• Coman, R. (2022). The Politics of the Rule of Law in the EU Polity, Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics
• Coman, R. Costa, O. and Sierens, V. (eds), EU Council Presidencies in Times of Crises, Palgrave, 2024.
• Bickerton, Ch., Brack, N., Coman, R. & Crespy, A. (eds), Conflicts of sovereignty in contemporary Europe: a framework of analysis, Comparative European Politics, 2022.
• Brack, N., Coman, R. & Crespy, A. (eds), Understanding Conflicts of Sovereignty in the EU, Routledge, London, New York, 2021.
• Coman, R., Crespy, A. & Schmidt, V. (eds.) Governance and Politics in the Post-Crisis European Union, Cambridge University Press, 2020.
• Coman, R. and Buzogany, A. (2024), “The European Union’s Response to the Rule of Law Crisis and the Making of the New Conditionality Regime”, Journal of Common Market Studies, Annual Review, forthcoming.
• Coman, R. (2024), “Backsliding Populist Governments in the Council: The Case of the Hungarian Fidesz”, Politics and Governance, Volume 12, Article 8161. 
• Coman, R. (2024). “How does the EU seek to encourage change in national justice systems? A framework of coordinative and coercive Europeanization at work.” Comp Eur Polit (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-024-00391-7
• Puleo, L. and Coman, R. (2024) “Explaining judges’ opposition when judicial independence is undermined: insights from Poland, Romania, and Hungary”, Democratization, 31:1, 47-69, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2023.2255833

E-mail: ramona.coman@ulb.be