@article{bibcite_204941,
  keywords = {EU investment screening, foreign direct investment, failing forward, muddling through, European integration, geoeconomic security, investment regulation, FDI screening reform},
  author = {Sophie Meunier and Anna Vlasiuk Nibe},
  title = {Mind the Gaps: Failing Forward, Muddling Through, and the Reform of EU Investment Screening},
  abstract = {<p>This research note investigates the causes of the 2024-2025 reform of the European Union{\textquoteright}s foreign direct investment screening framework by probing two competing explanations: {\textquotedblleft}failing forward{\textquotedblright} (Jones et al., 2016, 2021) and {\textquotedblleft}muddling through{\textquotedblright} (Lindblom, 1959). We show that the 2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/452 was a deliberate lowest-common-denominator outcome whose design gaps were apparent from adoption. We structure our analysis around three dimensions: the nature of the crisis catalyst; institutional lock-in and path dependence; and the seeds of the next failure embedded in the new Regulation (EU) 2026/1386. We argue that the reform is better characterised as {\textquotedblleft}muddling through{\textquotedblright} than as {\textquotedblleft}failing forward:{\textquotedblright} triggered by a mandated statutory review and exogenous geopolitical shocks rather than by an endogenous governance crisis, the new Regulation (EU) 2026/1386 reproduces the core sovereignty constraint of 2019, with the Commission obtaining no override powers. We discuss the implications for economic security governance more broadly.</p>},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Law \& Geoeconomics},
}