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Constructing the European identity - trap or gap? European integration between community-building and path-dependency
Date
2008
Abstract
This article scrutinises the application of collective political identity construction as a political concept to the process of European integration. As a starting point for my approach I take the recurring demands for a European identity which reflects a strong link between democratic legitimacy and the EU. Given the sui generis nature of the European integration process, I argue that these perceptions derive from the nation-building processes of the 18th and 19th centuries rather than reflecting the experience of an incremental political integration process. Contrary to the generalised assumption that identity construction is a prerequisite for political integration in Europe or the ‘missing link’, my argument is that European identity should rather be treated as a possible end product. Applying a strong pathdependence model to European integration risks stepping into an ‘identity trap’, which constrains indispensable systemic flexibility.
Supervisor
Description
non-peer-reviewed
Publisher
University of Limerick, Department of Politics and Public Administration
Citation
Limerick Papers in Politics and Public Administration;2008, No. 1
Collections
Files
Funding code
Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
External Link
Type
Report
Rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/