Decolonising the EU? Mapping Coloniality and Resistance through civil society and intellectual groups in EU Member States

While calls to decentre International Relations have grown since the early 2000s, critiques of EU Eurocentrism often remain trapped within Eurocentric frameworks themselves. A genuinely decolonial approach requires ontological and epistemological shifts—particularly in mapping how coloniality is reproduced or resisted within EU Member States.

The PhD project examines civil society organisations as meso-actors that engage with coloniality and mediate between national contexts and EU-level policymaking on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights. It analyses how gender and religion function as key markers of coloniality, and how colonial legacies and national understandings of secularism shape distinct modes of engagement. Civil society is treated as both a potential site of decolonial rupture and a space where colonial hierarchies may be reproduced.

Methodologically, the project employs semi-structured interviews and document analysis within a Critical Discourse Analysis (Discourse Historical Analysis) framework.