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This paper focuses on Habermas's notion of cosmopolitan democracy. Reconfiguring the basic ideas of democracy in postnational terms is inevitable if social and political integration is to succeed on a supranational level. In exploring Habermas's ideas, we draw on Rancière, whose thought stands in a complex relationship to Habermas. On the one hand, Rancière largely shares Habermas's diagnosis of the present. Both bemoan the erosion of the political caused by post‐democracy and censure the rise of right‐wing extremism in Western societies. On the other hand, and in contrast to Habermas, Rancière holds that these problems should be addressed not primarily by strengthening political institutions and reaching a consensus between conflicting parties, but by rethinking conflict and resistance. We show that Habermas's and Rancière's propositions can be productively brought in dialogue by focusing on the paradigmatic types of political subjectivity involved in their accounts: the citizen (Habermas) and the plebeian (Rancière). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As exemplified by the pan‐European 'Identitarian movement' (IM), contemporary far‐right populism defies the habitual matrix within which right‐wing radicalism has been criticised as a negation of liberal cosmopolitanism. The IM's political stance amalgamates features of cultural liberalism and racialist xenophobia into a defence of 'European way of life.' We offer an alternative decoding of the phenomenon by drawing on Jürgen Habermas's 'postnational constellation.' It casts the IM's protectionist qua chauvinistic populism as 'inverted' postnationalism, engendered through territorial and ethnic appropriation of universal political values. As such, inclusionary ideals of cosmopolitan liberalism and democracy purporting humanistic postnationalism have been transformed by Identitarians into elements of a privileged civilisational life‐style to be protected from 'intruders.' Remaining within the remit of the grammar of the postnational constellation, trans‐European chauvinism, we contend, is susceptible to inclusive articulation. Foregrounding radical emancipatory social transformation would however require not more democracy, but a principled critique of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent economic crisis has brought into focus how even open and highly interdependent economies in the European Union try to govern their economies according to territorially defined interests. The aim of this article is to examine an area, online gambling, with the technological and legal conditions that challenge approaches that favour economic patriotism. The article compares two cases, the United Kingdom and Italy, that represent two different models of economic governance to argue that they are similar in which interests they seek to protect and at which level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Enjoying a surge of national pride, the German media celebrated the 2010 German World Cup team's success in South Africa. A dominant theme in this coverage was the 'immigration background' of 11 of the 23 players on the team and their claim to German identity despite their ethnic diversity. Amid debate over the changing nature of German citizenship, the national team's 'multicultural kickers' became the focal point for those who wished to reframe German identity. This article examines German newspaper and magazine coverage of the national soccer team emphasizing the role that media played in constructing competing definitions of the German citizen and nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the crisis being faced by the European Union (EU) and discusses whether it is realistic to return to nation states with closed borders and whether the Europeans want such an outcome. Topics discussed include the Great Britain referendum on continued EU membership, the findings of a study which suggest people are supportive of the idea of a united Europe, and previous forecasts done on the spread of European identity.

The author comments on the migrant crisis facing Europe and the return of the politics of fear. Particular focus is given to Europe's struggle with its national identity. Topics discussed include the Dublin III agreement, emergence of radicalization and terrorism, ideology of fear, and the growing number of nationalist, anti-liberal and anti-European parties in European Union member states.

Since the beginning of the integration process into the European Union a continuous discourse has evolved about what characterizes 'Europe' and whether there is a common 'European identity'. Most recently, this discourse has tended to define the European 'Self' in contrast to a 'foreign' Muslim 'Other'. The debate is taking place against the background of new Muslim arrivals in Europe. However, the presence of Muslim citizens in Europe is not a recent phenomenon. This empirical research paper explores the effects this discourse has had on the perspective of Muslim youths in Kosovo on European identity. Kosovo is seen as a European country with a centuries-old Muslim presence. It seeks to further 'Europeanize' itself in order to connect with the EU. By means of qualitative in-depth interviews with young practicing Muslims in Prishtina the paper reveals that the participants have not started to view 'Europe' in any negative way. Instead, they use their positive understanding of European identity which they associate with diversity and freedom of religion for Muslims. The respondents heavily criticize their own government for misunderstanding the concept as denoting 'un-Muslim', which leads to an oppression of practicing Muslims in Kosovo in light of the country's attempt to 'be European'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the politicisation of European tax governance in mass media. Although taxation is commonly assumed to remain a national prerogative, European institutions have extended their reach far into national tax regimes. Whether this expansion of EU authority towards one of the core functions of the nation state is accompanied by politicisation is the question to be addressed in this article. To analyse the causal nexus between growing EU authority – measured in terms of formal authority and tax legislation – and the politicisation of EU tax governance, the paper compares public debates in Germany, Ireland and Switzerland over a time period of 30 years between 1981 and 2011. Based on a newspaper content analysis, the empirical results demonstrate that EU tax governance is increasingly politicised in all three countries. Varying levels and content of politicisation across time and space are explained by national economic and socio-cultural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the implications of understanding ' Europeanization' as a complex, dynamic and troubled translation process. It discusses post-communist welfare in the context of variegated forms of austerity capitalism in the EU. In particular, the complex relationships between modalities of welfare, the uneven development of neo-liberalisms and the multi-scalar restructuring of welfare assemblages, are discussed in the context of the reframing of relationships between the economic, the political and the social in a period of deep crisis and austerity. Post-communist Europe cannot be conceived as a flattened map or a singular regime type. Rather, diverse and often contradictory restructurings operate in different places at different times, and political agency continues to matter. Comparing and contrasting the changing relationships between neo-liberalism, authoritarian populism and ethnicized nationalism in Hungary and Croatia provides a more nuanced understanding of the variable geometries of transnational translations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses attitudes of the Catholic Church and Protestant churches in Europe regarding European integration. It examines the concept of Euroscepticism, the interaction between churches and the European Union (EU), and historical support for, and opposition to, the EU on the part of the Catholic Church. It also discusses EU policies concerning church and state, the concepts of European identity and national identity in the EU, and Protestant relations with the EU.

This article identifies previously ignored determinants of public support for the European Union's security and defence ambitions. In contrast to public opinion vis-à-vis the EU in general, the literature on attitudes towards a putative European army or the existing Common Security and Defence Policy ( CSDP) suggests that the explanatory power of sociodemographic and economic variables is weak, and focuses instead on national identity as the main determinant of one's support. This article explores the possible impact of strategic culture, and argues that preferences vis-à-vis the EU's security and defence ambitions are formed in part through pre-existing social representations of security. To test this proposition, 'national' strategic cultures are disaggregated and a typology is produced that contains four strategic postures: pacifism, traditionalism, humanitarianism and globalism. Applying regression analysis on individual-level Eurobarometer survey data, it is found that strategic postures help explain both the general level of support for CSDP and support for specific Petersberg tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A superordinate identity reduces bias and facilitates intergroup cooperation. This suggests that getting European Union (EU) citizens to identify with Europe will decrease outgroup hostility. Is European identity thus a superordinate identity? Using Eurobarometer data, I determine which level of identification is the most inclusive for individuals' immigration attitudes. Those who feel European hold more favorable views toward immigrants—an effect that is amplified under conditions of cross-cutting cleavages and where country length of European Union membership is greatest. In contrast, strong national identity is associated with more negative immigration attitudes; regional identity has no effect. A subsequent test confirms that the benefits of identifying with Europe extend most strongly to immigrants of European Union origin, although positive effects are observed toward non-European Union migrants as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following a poststructuralist theorising of identity in international relations, which argues that identity is relationally and discursively constructed through foreign policy, this article attempts to analyse the way in which the European Commission discursively constructs European identit(ies) in its relations with Turkey around the theme of ‘security’. The study utilises the methodological tools of critical discourse analysis in analysing the speeches and field interviews conducted with European Commission officials, in examining the way in which they construct ‘Europe’ in relation to the security implications of Turkish accession. The article’s findings challenge the argument that Europe is moving beyond the modern state to resemble a postmodern order, and problematises the designation of the Commission as a ‘cosmopolitan’ actor in EU enlargement policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much of the empowerment of the European Parliament over the years is due to its special role in providing a bridge connecting the public’s policy preferences on the one hand, and the legislative behaviour of elected officials on the other. As the only popularly elected EU institution, successive treaty reforms increased the EP’s political power. These reforms were accompanied by an explicit desire to see citizens’ involvement in EU politics increase and, in turn, provide support and legitimacy to the European integration project. This paper models MEPs’ track records on various political issues, and assesses the extent to which their output is in line with the positions their party campaigned on and the policy preferences expressed in public opinion. The findings suggest that there are discrete patterns of representation, where some parties are more inclined toward greater congruence with their selectorate and manifesto than others. Furthermore, the degree of congruence varies across policy issues and is shaped, to a large extent, by institutional arrangements and political context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the influences that European intellectual constructions exerted on the formulation of socio-political projects in Brazil in the nineteenth century. The analysis centers on Romanticism-based literary publications of mid-century, paying additional attention to the propositions advanced by the Positivism of the last quarter of the century. Even though nineteenth-century Brazil intellectuals saw Europe as the main source of influence for their own cultural projects, in Brazil the intellectual field was much less developed and members of local elites believed the future of their country depended on their direct involvement in leading the construction of an autonomous national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyze political parties' campaign communication during the 2009 European Parliamentary election in 11 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). We study which types of issues Euroskeptic fringe and Euroskeptic mainstream parties put on their campaign agendas and the kind and extent of EU opposition they voice. Further, we seek to understand whether Euroskeptic and non-Euroskeptic parties co-orient themselves toward each other within their national party systems with regard to their campaigns. To understand the role of Euroskeptic parties in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections, we draw on a systematic content analysis of parties' posters and televised campaign spots. Our results show that it is Euroskeptic parties at the edges of the political spectrum who discuss polity questions of EU integration and who most openly criticize the union. Principled opposition against the project of EU integration, however, can only be observed in the UK. Finally, we find indicators for co-orientation effects regarding the tone of EU mobilization: In national political environments where Euroskeptic parties strongly criticize the EU, pro-European parties at the same time publicly advance pro-EU positions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The future of the European Union has never been more in doubt than at the very moment it has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its historical accomplishments. When the heads of Europe's weakest institutions-the Commission, the Council and the Parliament-collected the prize in Oslo on December 10, 2012 they spotlighted the nub of the problem. Unless these institutions can garner the legitimacy of European citizens and transform into a real federal union with common fiscal and economic policies to complement the single currency, Europe will remain at the mercy of global financial markets and the fiscally authoritarian dictates of its strongest state, Germany. Moving beyond this state of affairs was the focus of a recent 'town hall' gathering in Berlin sponsored by the Berggruen Institute on Governance. The meeting brought together current power brokers-such as the contending voices of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who rarely appear in public together-as well as Europe's top former leaders, key thinkers and young people who will govern in the future. The peace-building project of the European Union was born out of the ashes of World War II and the anguish of the Cold War. Yet, as George Soros points out, its current inability to resolve the eurocrisis by forging greater union is dividing Europe once again, this time between creditors and debtors. Former Greek premier George Papandreou has warned that this division is fomenting a new politics of fear that is giving rise to the same kind of xenophobic movements that fueled the extreme politics of the Nazi era. To avoid a repeat of the last calamitous century, Europe first of all needs a growth strategy both to escape the 'debt trap' it is in-and which austerity alone will only deepen-and to create breathing space for the tough structural reforms that can make Europe as a whole competitive again in a globalized world. To sustain reform, it needs a clear path to legitimacy for the institutions that must govern a federal Europe. The proof that Europe can escape its crisis through a combination of growth, fiscal discipline and structural reform comes from the one country so many want to keep out of the union: Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rightfully boasts of Turkey's accomplishments that resulted from the difficult changes carried out after its crisis in 2001-ranging from quickly cleaning up the banks to liberalizing markets to trimming social benefits to make them more affordable in the long run. As a result, Turkey today is the fastest growing economy in the world alongside China with diminished deficit and debt levels that meet the eurozone criteria that many members states themselves cannot today meet. Turkey has even offered a 5 billion euro credit through the IMF for financial aid to Europe. Germany itself also provides some lessons for the rest of Europe. The obvious reason Germany rules today is because it is the most globally competitive country in the European Union. That is the result of a series of reforms that were implemented starting in 2003 under the leadership of then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Aimed a bolstering Germany's industrial base and its collateral small and medium enterprises which are the foundation of its middle class society, those reforms introduced more labor flexibility and trimmed benefits to make them sustainably affordable while investing in training, maintaining skills and research and development. Even if Europe's individual nation states can shrink imbalances by following Turkey and Germany in getting their act together, the only ultimate way to save the euro, and thus Europe itself, is to build the complementary governing institutions at the European level. For those institutions to become effective, they must be empowered and legitimated by European citizens themselves. To this end, Tony Blair has suggested a bold move: the direct election of a European president. Symbolically, the Oslo ceremonies were a historical turning point for Europe. By recognizing the European Union's peace-making past, the Nobel Prize challenged Europe to escape once and for all the destructive pull of narrow national interests and passions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Since 1989, questions of citizenship and statelessness in Europe are once again dynamic. On the one hand, exclusionary forces have become reinvigorated, including as a result of ethno-nationalism. In addition, new forms of status have been created, severely limiting participation and inclusion rights. Minorities have been particularly subject to exclusion, with Roma and Russians affected in particular. On the other hand, regional and international lawmaking has endeavoured to counteract these forces. This article attempts to summarize these developments, with a particular focus on EU and Council of Europe law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains the role of media in the identity-building process in the European Union (EU). Starting from a historical overview of different forms of nationalism in Europe and various ways in which nations emerged, it traces the efforts of current members of the European Union to create a common feeling of belonging in the EU’s unique post-national realm. Finally it examines whether media should be and could be the conveyors of the new pan-national European soul. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Neither the proposed European Constitution nor the Lisbon Treaty made any mention of Christianity, nor are there any references to Christianity or Christian churches in the ordinary documents of the European Union. This essay explores the likely root causes of such omission. Given that the constitutions of many European member-states refer to God and/or Christianity (and in some cases even establish an official religion), the European Constitution did not simply transfer the status quo at national level to the international sphere. The root cause of the 'Christophobia' that marks the current Eurocracy would appear to lie in a rejection of its own cultural origins: a civilizational self-denial. Europe seeks to define its identity in terms of abstract universal values such as freedom, human rights, etc. Nevertheless, the reason such liberal-democratic values emerged in the West is because they are secularized versions of Christian values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bosnia and Herzegovina has always been in Europe belonging to a community of the European countries and European cultural, historical and legal heritage. Thus, regardless of how much we agree or disagree with the thesis that a certain number of countries, especially those in transition and those which are undergoing a post-conflict period, deviate from the so called contemporary European standards, Bosnia and Herzegovina is indeed a part of Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a part of European identity and conglomerate of that what makes up Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina has, just as the entire former region of the southwest Balkans, especially overlooking the period of the last twenty years, enriched the European tradition and European identity by its people, languages, cultures, ethnicities etc. However, the „European identity" today represents a certain paradigm of specific standards that European countries strive towards. These standards are evolutive result of the development of the democracy and legal state, human rights and freedoms protection and other values that the scientific doctrine today accepts as the goal of the contemporary society. If this were to be taken as true, then one can surely say that Bosnia and Herzegovina „strives" towards Europe and is on the „European path" but has not arrived in „Europe" just yet. Only when Bosnia and Herzegovina meets the so called, European standards, regardless of that how unclear they are or how different viewpoints we might have on them, we can speak of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European identity. The Constitutional Court of BiH is very important constitutional institution. Its role is crucial when it comes to protection of constitutional order including human rights and freedoms. It is understandable that everyone wants the Constitutional Court of BiH to take decision he/she desires. However, the Court should uphold the Constitution of BiH, protect and adjudicate in accordance with it. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court of BiH should be independent and impartial. That is one of its basic characteristics and cornerstone of its successful work. Autonomy, independence and impartiality of the Constitutional Court of BiH are in the interest of all of its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In several respects, the EU represents both a novel system of quasi-supranational governance and a novel form of political community or polity. But it is also a fragile construction for it remains a community still in the making with an ambiguous sense of identity and within which powerful forces are at work. This paper has three main aims: first, to stress the shifting nature of Europe's geographical frontiers and assess whether cultural frontiers have remained more stable throughout time. In particular, it examines the main criteria, which have traditionally been employed when having to decide who should be included and excluded from Europe. A different question concerns the requirements for EU membership and the monopoly of the adjective 'European' by the EU, which somehow has become to be identified with Europe. Second, to explore the prospects for the emergence of a European identity. Here, I argue that European identity stands as a 'non-emotional identity' in sharp contrast with traditional forms of national identity associated with intense nationalist feelings. Third, through the analysis of the most recent Eurobarometer (annual survey of EU's public opinion) to examine the views of Europeans regarding the EU at a time of a major global economic crisis. To conclude, the paper explores the main challenges to be faced by a still incipient European identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments are presented in response to the article "A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus," by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks. The author reviews the process proposed by Hooghe and Marks to demonstrate the need for Europeanization as a public process rather than an elitist one. Hooghe and Marks' proposal to use theories of strategic competition among political parties to identify potential points of exploitation is discussed. The author also comments on the tension between the increasing scope of European integration and national identities.

To date, European identity has not mobilised a feeling of belonging or solidarity that would be comparable to the ways in which national identities stir people's passions and make them ready ‘to die for’ their nations. However, much of the related political debate and scholarly analysis has paid little attention to citizens' understanding of European identity and the way this relates to national identity. This paper aims to contribute towards filling this gap. It explores qualitatively the relationship between national and European identity among Italian citizens with a view to answering the following research questions: How do Italian citizens define Europe? Who is a European? How does feeling European relate to feeling Italian? How do citizens perceive the European integration process? The article is based on 24 qualitative interviews with Italian citizens of varying age, gender, locality of residence and socio-economic status, conducted in spring and summer 2003. The methodology adopted follows the discourse analytical tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts between European Union (EU) members about enlargement result from its redistributive effects. EU members are more likely to suffer from enlargement if they profit from EU transfers and if they are relatively close to applicant countries in which unemployment is significantly higher than in member countries. Phasing in membership rights serves to compensate the relative losers of enlargement to accomplish EU widening. Using data from all previous enlargement rounds until 2004, we demonstrate that EU members are more likely to demand a discrimination of new members if distributional conflicts arise. The existence of these distributional conflicts in turn increases the odds of EU members and the accession candidates actually agreeing on a phase-in period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because they have failed to address the fundamental economic imbalances within Europe obscured by the single currency, each effort by European leaders so far to resolve the euro crisis has only deepened it. Without a decisive move toward fiscal and political union, accompanied by policies that push productivity and competitiveness toward convergence while closing the democratic deficit, the Eurozone will disintegrate. To discuss the way forward, the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's Council on the Future of Europe met in Rome on May 28 with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. In this section we publish the contributions from that meeting by the former European leaders, scholars and Nobel laureates who are members of the Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]