The conceptual spectrum of European identity: from missing link to unnecessary evil

European identity is a politically relevant concept. The study of European identity, however, suffers from its conceptual overstretch. Aiming to facilitate the use and operationalisation of European identity this article provides five distinct models of European identity that shape the political and academic debate on the future of Europe. Starting from a macro-theoretical perspective, existing political and theoretical contributions are placed within an original spectrum of European identity approaches. In an empirically based approach the models are explained by their variation in development, aims, issues, processes and methods of identity construction. An important finding of the analysis is that European identity models do not stand conceptually alone but are embedded in more general approaches of European integration.