THE EU AND THE WORLD: NEW CHALLENGES AND TRENDS

THE EU AND THE WORLD: NEW CHALLENGES AND TRENDS
27 IDEAS FROM THE ERASMUS GENERATION
Faculty of Political Science, University of Florence, 31 May-1 June 2012
How to Build a European Identity?
By
Thibaut Magerman
University of Brussels (ULB)
BELGIUM
Thibaut Magerman
MA Political Science
MA Philosophy
[email protected]
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How to build a European identity?
I. Federalism as the structure of a multinational Europe
Federalism is today the privileged solution to reconcile unity with diversity. In a
Federation, sovereignty is split between several government levels that benefit from a
certain level of autonomy.1 Federalism combines on one hand the sharing out of resources,
values and ideals at central level and on the other hand, autonomy of each federal entity.
This autonomy gives each entity the opportunity to keep its social and cultural features.
Building a common identity to all citizens is key to build a federal Europe. Indeed, the
federal system can only be fully efficient if ‘a common identity is shared among all citizens
in the country and if this identity is stronger than the local identities’.2 It is the federal
government’s responsibility to nourish this common European identity and to develop a
cohesion that goes beyond the national features.
II. Ethnic identity vs. civic identity
Herder and Renan are often seen as the precursors of the idea of nation in the modern
times. They both strongly defend two conceptions and two traditions contrasting with each
other: ethnic nation and civic nation. This difference between the French and the German
view needs to be placed in the context of the year 1870 and the annexation of AlsaceLorraine.3 Germany thought it could claim these territories in the name of the ‘Germanity’
of its inhabitants. On the other hand, France also claimed the territory in the name of the
‘voice of the soil’, arguing the ‘right of the nations for the soil on which they have been
living for centuries’.4
1
Benoît Pelletier, « Some Thoughts on Canada’s Identity », British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 24, no. 1.
2
Benoît Pelletier, « Some Thoughts on Canada’s Identity », British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 24, no. 1.
3
Alain Dieckhoff, La nation dans tous ses états : les identités nationales en mouvement, Flammarion, Paris,
2002.
4
Christian Vandermotten; Julien Vandeburie, Territorialités et politique, Editions de l’Université de
Bruxelles, Bruxelles, 2011, p. 33.
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a. Ethnic identity
The German conception implies a determinist aspect: you do not choose your nation, but
your nation imposes itself to you from the very moment of your birth. You are born
German, you do not become German. This determinism rests on either the race, the religion
or the language. Here we believe in the idea of ‘natural organic bonds’ that put together the
citizens of a same community. This concept has been inherited by the Romantic movement
and has been represented, among others, in the Second and Third Reich. 5
b. Civic identity
When the ethnic nation is driven by necessity, the civic nation is based on the principle
of liberty. The French conception of nation stresses the liberty for each to choose its nation:
nation ‘results from the union of willingness in a free association, based on the membership
of social contract principles’.6 Based on this principle, the US have welcome millions of
European, African and South American migrants who came to live the American dream. If
these migrants were not American by birth, they have become American by choice,
because they adhered to the American ideal.
III. European union needs to build a common civic identity
Citizens of a small village or a small island may have a natural feeling to belong to a
single community. They have a personal relationship with each other. At the European
level, this face-to-face relationship cannot happen. The territory is too big. There are too
many inhabitants. As very truly says Benedict Anderson, ‘the members of even the smallest
nation will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet
in the minds of each lives the image of their communion’. 7 Beyond small villages, there is
nothing but constructed communities.
The leaders, the intellectuals, the teachers need to cultivate among the population this
feeling of belonging to the European community. We need to reinforce the idea of
5
Alain Dieckhoff, La nation dans tous ses états : les identités nationales en mouvement, Flammarion, Paris,
2002.
6
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Discours à la nation allemande, Préface.
7
Benedict Anderson, L’imaginaire national, La Découverte, Paris, 1996.
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European citizens, i.e. their feeling to belong to a distinct community. EU needs to play a
key role in forming the collective identity through the promotion of myths, symbols and
values. This European identity that needs to be build will need to be a civic one.
Building a collective identity needs to be driven top-down by the leaders. Citizens are
not fully empowered, but leaders will need to influence them. 8 Nevertheless, citizens are
free to accept or reject the programs and values they are offered. This is why the result
cannot be guaranteed beforehand but depends on objective and subjective factors. EU needs
to build a common identity through education, media and foreign policy.
School plays a key role.
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Cultural homogeneity creates a collective feeling. About
religions, Schopenhauer said that ‘the invaluable privilege of being taught to children from
the earliest age ensures lasting intelligence […], they develop in man as a second intellect,
as a transplant would develop on a tree.’ 10 Same could be said about national education.
Teaching is not politically neutral. Lessons are oriented so as to reinforce the national or
European feeling: history, literature and geography books. School needs to teach children
the values that create a link between EU citizens.
Media play a central part to foster the common identity. Benedict Anderson emphasizes
the role of printing in the birth of national feeling. 11 By allowing national languages to
develop, printing has laid the basis of national identity. In France, Paris newspaper has
created in each reader the feeling of belonging to the French national community.12
Television and radio are today the key mass media. They can reach all the citizens of the
EU. European media addressing common themes will contribute to the creation of a
European civic identity.
8
Pal Kolsto, “Nation-Building in Russia : A Value-Oriented Strategy,” in Kolsto, ed. Nation-Building and
Common Values in Russia.
9
Alain Renaut, Nations et nationalismes, La Découverte.
10
Arthur Schopenhauer, Le monde comme volonté et comme représentation, trad. fr. Auguste Burdeau, Paris,
Presses Universitaires de France, 1966, p. 857.
11
Benedict Anderson, L’imaginaire national, La Découverte, Paris, 1996.
12
Alain Dieckhoff, La nation dans tous ses états : les identités nationales en mouvement, Flammarion, Paris,
2002.
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Foreign policy plays a critical role in the identity expression. 13 The leaders behave on
the international scene in a way to promote values and principles taken from the inside and
recycled to promote a collective identity. 14 The European foreign policy needs to aim at
promoting a European identity on the international scene and thus reinforcing the
attachment of European citizens for the EU.
The European foreign policy is likely to reinforce the common civic identity provided
that this policy is driven in a fair way for all the nations of the State Members. The foreign
policy needs thus to get the buy-in of each and every nation. 15 Indeed, a foreign policy that
would go deeply against public opinion of one of the nations cannot be a long-term
situation and there may even be a risk of dividing instead of assembling.
13
Kim Richard Nossal; Stéphane Roussel; Stéphane Paquin, Politique internationale et défense au Canada et
au Québec, Les presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2007, p. 46.
14
Paule-Marie Duhet, Le Canada, Presses universitaires de Nancy, Nancy, 1991.
15
Kenneth McRoberts, “Identité nationale et impératifs domestiques” in Gérard Boismenu, Enjeux de la
politique étrangère canadienne, Presses Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris, 2008, p. 35.
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