Europe In Translation Governance, Assemblage And The Project Form

This chapter deals with how relationality is formed, maintained and sometimes dissolves in the process of conceiving, developing and implementing projects. It focuses ‘on the ground’, in the everyday conception of the project as an organisational form, and as sponsored and developed by the Framework Programmes of the Directorate-General for Research. The chapter explores how policy is made in projects, using Commission initiatives in mental health as an example. R. J. Pohoryles identifies a degree of organisational complexity, in that each project involves several participant organisations, while each of those organisations may be involved in several projects. Most authors take its derivation from G. Deleuze and F. Guattari although, as John Phillips points out, the term assemblage is an imperfect translation of their original agencement. Concepts of assemblage and translation seem to say much about a specific if significant area of European Commission activity, namely its support and development of research and innovation.