in that it adds depth to the survey to some extent transforming it into a series of case-studies.
In a sense, testing the existence or not of a common identity within the EU political elite is a “critical test”. After all, if one is to take seriously the goal of a European federation and a common European identity, then at least the governing elite in Europe must display such an identity. This makes the EU constitutional convention an interesting case.38 The major part of the study will however, in keeping with my epistemological assumptions, draw upon qualitative sources including speeches by politicians, contributions by European intellectuals and classics within European philosophy and literature.
The structure of the book is as follows:
Chapter 2 asks some preliminary questions regarding the nature of Political Man, linking this to the debate about sources of identity. It outlines the individualist premises of the book underlining the limitations of both a rational choice approach and a holistic approach and introducing what I call an integrist perspective on Political Man.
Chapter 3 examines to what extent Europeans regard themselves as European, drawing upon polls carried out by the European Commission’s Eurobarometer.
Chapter 4 discusses the key concepts of culture, identity and nation.
Chapter 5 stresses the importance of historical experience for identity-formation, arguing that we are witnessing a move from history to memory in identity debates and suggesting a typology of historically related role conceptions.
Chapter 6 investigates the sources of national identity. The discussion is summarized in a theoretical model.
Chapter 7 similarly analyzes the sources of transnational identity, outlining a theoretical framework describing a number of ideal-type models.
Chapter 8 adds a brief comparative perspective, discussing to what extent existing polities can help us understand the dilemmas of the EU.
Chapter 9 explores to what extent Europe can be said to be a cultural community: To what extent is there a common cultural-philosophical tradition uniting Europeans?
Chapter 10 sharpens the focus and tries to pinpoint the originality of Europeanness. I argue that part of the tradition of European individuality is overlooked because it has been universalized and has come to be taken for granted.
Chapter 11 studies the alleged new cleavage between the “old Europe” and the “new Europe”, placing it in a historical perspective.
Chapter 12 compares Europeanness with other civilizations and argues that Europe is confronted with a risk of Orientalization in the sense of Oriental values and religious creeds increasingly replacing European values and creeds.
Chapter 13 examines the EU’s international identity, and introduces the concept of cultural externalization to describe the tendency of the EU to try to compensate for internal heterogeneity by means of a strategic diffusion of its own values and way of life.
Chapter 14 turns attention to the attempts on the part of Europeans to defend their cultural legacies and their particular outlook in the face of standardizing globalization.
Chapter 15 examines the attempts on the part of the central EU institutions to construct common unifying symbols, emphasizing the inherent limitations of this endeavour.
Chapter 16 examines value identity as a possible building-block of European identity. The Haider case in Austria and the Muhammed case in Denmark are briefly analyzed with a view to assessing the strength of the European value community.
Chapter 17 turns attention to rights as a source of common identity, assessing the degree to which the EU has acquired a constitutional identity based on common rights, including a common citizenship.
Chapter 18 examines performance as a possible source of common identity: Is contemporary Europe perhaps best seen as a “working community”?
Chapter 19 adds a cosmopolitan perspective to the debate about a European identity.
Chapter 20 summarizes the book’s main arguments and results.
1 Robert Kagan, Of Paradise and Power, America and Europe in the new World Order. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2003, p. 3. See also Jeremy Rifkin, The European Dream. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2005.
2 Rifkin, op.cit. p. 365.
3 The question about the effects of identity and culture is not addressed in this book. For a recent work on this important and complex problem see Jan-Erik Lane and Svante Ersson, Culture and Politics. A comparative approach. Ashgate 2005.
4 Scott M. Thomas, The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations. Palgrave: Macmillan, 2005.
5 Adrian Fawell, “Europe’s identity problem”. West European Politics. Vol. 28, no. 5. November 2005, p. 1113.
6 Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilization and the re-making of world order. Touchstone Books. 1998, p. 21.
7 Jos de Beus, “Quasi-national European identity and European democracy”. Law and Philosophy, Vol. 20. 2001.
8 Ibid. p. 292.
9 See i.a. Thomas Pedersen, Germany, France and the integration of Europe. London: Pinter, 1998; and Keith Middlemas, Orchestrating Europe: The Informal Politics of the European Union. London: Fontana, 1995.
10 Andrew Moravcsik, The Choice for Europe. Cornell University Press, 1998.
11 Ibid.
12 Larry Siedentop, Democracy in Europe. Columbia University Press, 2001.
13 Anthony Smith, “National identity and the idea of European unity”. International affairs; Vol. 68/1. 1992, p. 73.
14 J. Habermas, A Constitution for Europe. New Left Review. 2001.
15 Viggo Hörup, “Fortrinlige objekter”. 17.9.1893. In: Viggo Hörup i skrift og taler. Bd. 3. Gyldendal, 1904.
16 Adrian Fawell, “Europe’s Identity Problem”. West European Politics;
