European Identity: Conflict and Cooperation

Abstract

A large literature now examines `European identities', or employs the concept of `identities' in analysis of the EU. This is something which could not be said of earlier phases in EU studies (Keeler, 2005: 571), even if some of the founding fathers of EU studies address it in their work (Haas, 1958, 1964; Deutsch, 1953, 1957). Ernst Haas, for instance, defined European integration as a process that involved a `shift of loyalties' by `political actors in several distinct national settings' to a `new political centre' (1958: 16), while Deutsch includes a `sense of community' in his conception of integration (for further discussion see Risse, 2005). Growing academic interest in the study of identities in Europe responds to what Rosamond (2007) calls `external' and `internal' drivers. Academic interest in the topic is a response to changes `on the ground', or external drivers. The post-Cold War, post-Maastricht and even post-`war on terror' context has been one in which European integration and certain kinds of identity polemics have become more contentious. This has raised questions about the relationship between identity, on the one hand, and the legitimacy of EU institutions, prospects for meaningful democracy beyond the state and the very future of the EU on the other. Moreover, large scale and continuing enlargement of the EU since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the prospect of Turkish membership and growing contestation over the coexistence of Christian, Islamic and secular traditions in European societies have increased cultural diversity in the EU and the salience of debates on identity. However, academic interest in European identities also reflects the evolution of theoretical debates on the EU, or internal drivers. It is no coincidence that increasing attention to issues of identity coincide with the onset of what Weiner and Diez (2009) describe as the second `analysing governance' and third `constructing the EU' phase of theory building, which focus more attention on issues of polity and the social context of European integration.