‘Near-to-medium term’ practices in the European Union’s governance

Long-term thinking is one of the most difficult tasks that States, and their policy-makers, face, and the European Union (EU) is no exception. This article examines the long-termist literature and the EU’s governance’s practices infused with power. It addresses the following question: does (and how) the practice approach make it possible to capture the practices of the European Union’s governance that give rise to contrasting directions when encroaching on social interactions? The findings highlight how the practices of the EU’s governance lead to different and opposed outcomes when interact with the social sphere, and how the outcomes are connected to the future. The findings might serve policy-makers to remind the importance of considering the effects of their policies on the future. The article fulfils these tasks by applying the practice approach to three short illustrative examples that are inherent within the EU’s governance: the Covid pandemic, Afghanistan, and China. The issue of how the practical implications of this paper might inform the ‘near-to-medium term’ policy-making or international relations strategies is discussed in the conclusion.