'Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George': Europe and the Limits of Integrating Identity

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Foster
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Ethnic Nationalism ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
White Nationalism ◽  
The Eu

Since the early 1990s a dominant modernist narrative has assumed that European integration and the progressive march of secularism, multiculturalism and increased material prosperity would lead to the fading-away of tribal, national, racial and other parochial identities; identities ostensibly incompatible with a meta-national 'European' identity founded not in ethnosymbolic myth, but in cosmopolitanism. This has informed not only academic theory but has also guided 60 years of EU policy making, with Ernst Haas' doctrine of neofunctionalist spill-over dominating European assumptions that a pan-European identity would replace national affiliations. Brexit contradicts this in four ways. First, Brexit demonstrates the renewed appeal of ethnic nationalism on multiple levels: nationalist (British), sub-nationalist (English), and meta-nationalist (white nationalism). Second, Brexit demonstrates shifts in traditional nationalism in the form of gulfs in a neo-medieval society. Third, Brexit demonstrates the existence of multiple and incompatible 'European' identities. Finally, Brexit demonstrates how a specifically EUropean identity can be just as hostile and exclusionary as ethnic nationalism. This reappearance of social discord, ethnosymbolic identities, and the praxis of ethnic identity exemplified by the British, but seen across the EU, necessitates a fundamental reconsideration of the apparently irreversible trends of an unfalsifiable theory of modernist, neofunctionalist progressivism in the form of European integration. Using the British as a case study, this paper argues that the very processes of European integration have, by accelerating antagonistic national and EU identities, inadvertently constructed the apparatus for EUrope's potential disintegration.

1. An Overview

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack ◽  
Christilla Roederer-Rynning ◽  
Alasdair R. Young
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Ongoing Experiment

The European Union represents a remarkable, ongoing experiment in the collective governance of a multinational continent of nearly 450 million citizens and 27 member states. The key aim of this volume is to understand the processes that produce EU policies: that is, the decisions (or non-decisions) by EU public authorities facing choices between alternative courses of public action. We do not advance any single theory of EU policy-making, although we do draw extensively on theories of European integration, international cooperation, comparative politics, and contemporary governance; and we identify five ‘policy modes’ operating across the 15 case study chapters in the volume. This chapter introduces the volume by summarizing our collective approach to understanding policy-making in the EU, identifying the significant developments that have impacted EU policy-making since the seventh edition of this volume, and previewing the case studies and their central findings.

2. Member States in European Integration

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Christopher Bickerton
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Inter State

This chapter explores the role of member states in European integration. It first looks at the idea of member statehood, exploring its ambiguities and arguing for a more sophisticated understanding of what it means to be a ‘member state’ of the EU. The chapter considers in detail the role played by member states in the EU, highlighting in particular the centrality of member state governments and their power to EU policy-making and its institutions. At the same time it notes the relative absence of member state publics. The chapter ends with a reflection on whether there is a return of the nation-state, with its associated trends of nationalism and inter-state rivalry.

scholarly journals Through Thick and Thin: ‘European Identification’ for a Justified and Legitimate European Union

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-47
Author(s):  
Anna C. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
European Integration ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Common Identity ◽  
Rule Out ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Normative Political Theory

Debates on the viability of European integration often rest on the need for some form of common European identity. This article looks at European integration through the framework of normative political theory to explore what form of European identity is needed for the EU to be considered both justified – having a good or just reason for existence, and legitimate – having consent from its citizens. It critiques arguments for a purely justified EU, which rule out the need for a common European identity, as well as those requiring a thick common identity for a legitimate EU. In contrast, this article argues for a European identification that is both desirable as an identity and works to sustain a justified and legitimate EU. The proposed conception of European identification takes into consideration national and sub-national identities and opens up the potential for Europeanised identities at multiple levels.

The Difficulty of Justifying European Integration as a Consequence of Depoliticization: Evidence from the 2005 French Referendum

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Glencross
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Argumentative Strategy ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis article analyses the 2005 French referendum debate on the EU Constitutional Treaty as an instance of depoliticization. Particular emphasis is placed on the argumentative strategy of President Chirac as, despite the treaty's focus on institutional reform, he eventually chose to justify the document in terms of social policy: an ultimately unconvincing strategy because voters believed it was contradicted by current EU policy priorities. On this evidence, pace Glyn Morgan, prioritizing a justification of EU finality over that of institutions and policies does not seem appropriate. Rather, the priority for integration is to overcome elites' strategies of depoliticization during referendum campaigns.

Policy-Making in the European Union

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
National Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Common ◽  
Key Events ◽  
The Eu

Policy-Making in the European Union explores the link between the modes and mechanisms of EU policy-making and its implementation at the national level. From defining the processes, institutions and modes through which policy-making operates, the text moves on to situate individual policies within these modes, detail their content, and analyse how they are implemented, navigating policy in all its complexities. The first part of the text examines processes, institutions, and the theoretical and analytical underpinnings of policy-making, while the second part considers a wide range of policy areas, from economics to the environment, and security to the single market. Throughout the text, theoretical approaches sit side by side with the reality of key events in the EU, including enlargement, the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and the financial crisis and resulting Eurozone crisis, focusing on what determines how policies are made and implemented. This includes major developments such as the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the reform of the common agricultural policy, and new initiatives to promote EU energy security. In the final part, the chapters consider trends in EU policy-making and the challenges facing the EU.

14. Policy-making in the European Union

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Drachenberg ◽  
Alex Brianson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
State Action ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Governance Tools ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the process of policy-making in the European Union. It first considers how the EU originally made policy decisions before tracing the evolution of the formal balance between the EU institutions over time, with particular emphasis on the increasing legislative power of the European Parliament. It then describes the Community method, which remains the core of the EU policy process but is now complemented with a range of ‘new governance tools’ designed to produce coordinated member state action through iterated processes of standard-setting, best practice identification, and knowledge transfer. One of these processes is the open method of coordination (OMC). The chapter concludes with an analysis of the implementation of EU policy decisions by and in the member states, along with current trends in EU decision-making after the EU enlargements of the 2000s and the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

2. Theorizing EU Policy-Making

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-42
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter surveys seven decades of theorizing about European Union policy-making and policy processes. It begins with a discussion of theories of European integration, including neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, constructivism, and postfunctionalism. It then considers the increasing number of studies that approach the EU through the lenses of comparative politics and comparative public policy, focusing on the federal or quasi-federal aspects of the EU and its legislative, executive, and judicial politics. It finally explores the vertical and horizontal separation of powers in the EU and concludes by looking at the ‘governance approach’ to the EU, with emphasis on multi-level governance and EU policy networks, Europeanization, and the question of the EU’s democratic deficit.

5. Democracy and the EU

2020 ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Tapio Raunio
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
European Level ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Input Legitimacy ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the relationship between European integration and democracy. The continuous transfer of policy-making powers from European Union (EU) member states to the European level has raised serious concerns about democratic legitimacy. The chapter assesses the claims that European integration undermines national democracy, and that decision-making at the EU level is not sufficiently democratic. It argues that while significant challenges remain, European integration has definitely become more democratic over the years. But there is perhaps a trade-off, with stronger input legitimacy potentially an obstacle to efficient European-level decision-making. It also underlines the multilevel nature of the EU polity and the importance of public debates about European integration.

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