We are delighted to announce that the European Political Science Annual Prize For 2016 (Volume 15) has been awarded to Katjana Gattermann, Anna-Lena Högenauer and Ariella Huff for their article Research Note: Studying a New Phase of Europeanisation of National Parliaments. European Political Science, Volume 15, Issue 1 (2016), pp. 89–107. The prize-winning article is now free to access.

The authors point to a new trend in national parliaments within the European Union and argue for the need to redirect our studies of these parliaments to better capture this development. In particular, the authors argue that a new phase of Europeanisation is evident, where parliaments are increasing ‘mainstreaming’ EU affairs, hence blurring the traditional distinction between national and European policies. After first demonstrating the existence of this trend, the authors argue that it should have significant implications for future research. This trend, and the discussion of how to capture it in contemporary research, is especially relevant for readers of EPS.

We found this to be an important academic contribution in at least three respects. First, the authors provide a systematic and documented overview of an important issue: To what extent does domestic decision-making in EU member states take the existence of the EU directly into account? Their careful reasoning and the resulting table (2) provide a useful benchmark against which future situations can be compared. Second, the article provides a remarkable summary of recent research about the mainstreaming of the EU after Lisbon.

Finally, we like the fact that the piece explicitly considers the prospects of a future research agenda in this area. For these reasons, this article clearly contributes to our understanding of new and innovative trends in political science.

According to the status, this prize shall be given to an article that makes a substantial contribution to the field of political science. We are sure that this article will be frequently cited in the future.

The prize committee was comprised of Professors:

Rein Taagepera, University of California, Irvine

Gabriella Ilonszki, Corvinus University of Budapest

Jonathon W. Moses, Norwegian University of Science and Technology