Professor of European and Global Governance I hold the Chair of European and Global Governance at the Technical University of Munich. My research explains how international organizations gain authority, are held accountable and adapt to geopolitical change – from China’s rise in global economic governance to the future of transatlantic relations. As an ERC Starting Grant holder and former reform rector of the Hochschule für Politik München, I connect academic research with policy, business and civil society. In: Global Studies Quarterly, vol. 6, iss. 4, 2026, ISSN: 2634-3797. The Evolution of International Regime Complexes: Adaptation and Maladaptation in International Cooperation Journal Article In: Global Studies Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 4, 2026, ISSN: 2634-3797. The Political Power of Digital Multinational Companies in an Era of Geo-Technological Competition Journal Article In: Review of International Political Economy, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 2446–2467, 2026, ISSN: 1466-4526. This article introduces a special forum devoted to the evolution of international regime complexes in three parts. First, it develops a novel distinction between adaptive and maladaptive evolution and maps diverse patterns of change in well-known and emerging international regime complexes. Second, it theorizes a variety of exogenous and endogenous sources of change that impact the configuration and effects of regime complexes. Here it draws on theories of regime complexity, along with theories of power transition, institutions, and delegation, to explain variations in evolutionary patterns. Finally, the paper summarizes eleven original contributions that make up the special forum and lays the groundwork for further theorizing about the conditions under which regime complexes adapt in ways that enhance or undermine international cooperation. We find, among other things, that the prevalence of endogenous sources of change is positively associated with adaptation of regime complexes, and invite further investigation of this relationship. This commentary examines the political power of digital multinational companies (MNCs). Our review of the existing literature finds that comparative scholarship has focused on state-business relationships at the country level and sheds light on the sources of power flowing from the positions of digital companies in national political economies. However, to a lesser extent, comparativists have studied the power flowing from digital companies within global network structures. To address this research gap, this commentary makes two contributions to the literature. First, it systematizes extant scholarship and expands it by bringing together two different strands of literature – comparative political economy scholarship on business power and scholarship on interdependence in global networks in international relations and international political economy – to illuminate the power of digital MNCs in an era of geo-technological competition. Second, this commentary identifies factors countervailing the power of digital MNCs: replacement networks, international regimes, and mutual interdependence. New Special Issue on the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative Jointly with Sophie Meunier, Prof. Conceicao-Heldt has published a new special issue in the Journal of European Integration on the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative. In the introductory piece “The EU’s Global Gateway initiative: the geopoliticization of development aid and foreign economic policy”, they demonstrate how the geopoliticization of the EU’s development aid and foreign economic policy happened. To know more just follow the article’s link below: Heldt, E. C., & Meunier, S. (2026). The EU’s Global Gateway initiative: the geopoliticization of development aid and foreign economic policy. Journal of European Integration, 48(6), 901–921. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2026.2716369 ABSTRACT In a second piece, together with Robert Basedow and Sophie Meunier, they study how the EU implemented the Global Gateway Initiative via Team Europe by adjusting the governance structure through enhanced intergovernmental coordination but without supranational centralization, what they term constrained governance adjustment. To read more, just klick the following link: Basedow, R., Heldt, E. C., & Meunier, S. (2026). Team europe goes Global Gateway: how China’s geopolitical rise affects EU governance in development and infrastructure financing. Journal of European Integration, 48(6), 1011–1031. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2026.2715686 ABSTRACT Speaker series · since 2017 Founded in 2017, Munich Talks is a speaker series in which leading scholars, politicians and policymakers discuss current political developments with a broad public audience. Annual conference · since 2018 Founded in 2018, the Munich Politics Network is an annual forum for scholars, policymakers, business and civil society on how technology and political shocks reshape society.Eugénia
da Conceição-Heldt
Latest Publications
Research Areas
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New Publication on International Regime Complexity
The Political Power of Digital Multinational Companies in an Era of Geo-Technological Competition
New Special Issue on the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative
The European Union (EU) launched the Global Gateway initiative in 2021 as a strategic pivot in European approaches to development aid and foreign policy amid intensifying great power competition. This Special Issue examines the extent to which the Global Gateway constitutes a genuine geoeconomic innovation or consolidates and rebrands existing development policy with a new framing. Five years after its launch, contributors analyze three critical dimensions: the initiative’s novelty as an economic security instrument; its implications for intra-EU institutional balance between the Commission, Member States, and European Parliament; and its impact on the EU’s positioning in great power competition vis-à-vis China’s Belt and Road Initiative and U.S. infrastructure partnerships. Drawing on empirical analyses of flagship projects, financing mechanisms, Team Europe coordination, and perceptions across the Global South, this collection advances understanding of the EU’s geoeconomic turn and its capacity to act as a geopolitical actor in global infrastructure finance.
While existing research explains how China’s geopolitical rise caused the enactment of the EU’s Global Gateway (GG) Initiative, this paper examines how the EU adjusted its governance of development policy. European integration scholarship suggests four possible responses to exogenous pressure: additional supranational delegation, greater intergovernmental coordination, institutional status quo, or disintegration. Drawing on primary research and elite interviews, we argue that geopolitical competition with China has not produced a transfer of competences to the supranational level. Instead, it has accelerated coordination without delegation: member states and EU institutions have developed new mechanisms that reorganize how the Union formulates and delivers development and infrastructure finance. Empirically, the paper documents how the GG was implemented via Team Europe, producing institutional adaptation without supranational centralization. Theoretically, we identify when geopolitical pressure favours tighter intergovernmental coordination over supranational delegation, particularly in domains with fragmented competences and strong member-state preferences for visibility and bilateral ties.
Projects
Public Engagement
Munich Talks
Munich Politics Network
Global Governance
European Integration
International Organizations
Principal-Agent Theory
International Political Economy
Disruptions in Politics and Technology
Accountability in the Digital Age
Trade Politics
Research projectDisruptions in Politics and Technology2022–2027Workshop seriesThe Deep Structure of Transatlantic Relations2024–2026Special issueThe Evolution of International Regime Complexes2026Special issueChina’s Rise and the Reconfiguration of Global Economic Governance2025Special issueThe EU’s Global Gateway Initiative2026ERC Starting GrantDelegation and Empowerment of International Organizations2012–2019
