*** BRANISLAV RADELJIC (Editor): Debating European Identity. Bright Ideas, Dim Prospects. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2014, 365 pp. €94.20. ISBN 978-3-0343-0964-6.
Will the concept of European identity attached to the integration project resist the existential crisis currently affecting the European Union, particularly the Eurozone? Is there not a risk of it being shattered into smithereens at a time that the member states, “tend to be primarily concerned with their own performance, meaning that various forms of cooperation can be severely affected” in the very near future? The European identity was invented during the Copenhagen Summit of December 1973, when there were only nine member states that needed to clarify what they actually were with regard to the outside world. The concept was only mentioned once after that in the Presidency Conclusions of European Council in 1993 in the context of the Uruguay Round. This effectively underlines the many ambiguities relating to this concept. The different writers contributing to this book seek to expose these different facettes, as well as the highlight the variety of interpretations of them. It subsequently transpires, as indicated in the book's subtitle, that this apparently glorious idea is now having to confront a number of very gloomy potential outcomes …
It is not so certain that this idea was really so glorious after all. As explained by Branislav Radeljic in his introductory chapter, creating a common European identity as an objective will be much more difficult to attain than that of building a political or economic union because, “the responsibility for a common identity lies in the hands of the EU citizens, thus it is the French, the Swedes, the Bulgarians and many more who are expected to ignore or at least put on hold their national identity for the sake of a common European one”. Moreover, it is among the people(s) and not the elites in these particular times of crisis that the feeling of solidarity tends to get blurred… this is precisely what has happened in 2008, as pointed out by this senior lecturer in international policy at the faculty of social sciences at the University of East London, who was responsible for editing this book. He shows how member states have moved away from the potential power of European identity and are now more concerned with their own individual or intergovernmental performance rather than demonstrating any attachment to supranational ideas. The entire second part of the book focuses on the question of, “European identity in times of crisis”. Professor Bo Strath (University of Helsinki) explains that the concept of European identity was devised as a means of creating a link between the social dimension and the economy in the context of the Werner Plan at the beginning of the 1970s but lost any meaning because the social dimension was completely ignored. The rise of extremist political parties resulting from the situation is also explored, while Victor Olivieri (a researcher at the University of Edinburgh) identifies the signs that could possibly indicate the dawning of a common European identity.
The scope of the investigation covered in this book is, however, much wider. In the three other parts of the book, highly scientific contributions melding the different disciplines still remain perfectly accessible for the average reader tackling the concept of European identity in the context of subjects as diverse as the need to substitute triumphant neoliberalism with a revised European liberal socialism in order to give meaning to the idea of European identity. This identity has been constructed very differently over the century depending on whether one is in the east or west of the continent, in the Catholic or Orthodox world and the fact that in order to justify the big bang, the European Parliament developed, “a compelling historical narrative built through the lens of Western European elaborations of historical myths and Memory”, which did not resonate with the sentiments felt in Central and Eastern Europe and the central focus of immigrants in the definition of a pan-European identity. The other authors tackle questions such as the gradual development of the European public area, religion and secularism in Europe and the concept of tolerance as affirmed in Turkey in the context of country's request to join the EU. This book contains many unusual insights, which would make it a precious travelling companion for those who won't be content to simply sit out sunbathing over the next few weeks! Michel Theys
*** FEDERICO CHABOD: Histoire de l'idée européenne. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - fax: 6503794 - Email: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be ). “UBlire” series, No. 32. 2014, 235 pp. €9. ISBN 978-2-8004-1554-3.
At the University of Milan in 1943, the historian, Federico Chabod, decided to base his modern history course on two themes at the heart of political and cultural problems of the era: the idea of the nation and the idea of Europe. This choice was not an innocent one: this university teacher would join the resistance just a few months later in the Val d'Aosta, using his nom de guerre, Professor Lazzaro. By taking this action he sought to oppose the ideas put forward by the Italian fascists, who had fallen back to Milan at that time, in the “Italian Social Republic” of Mussolini, who despite support from the Nazis would ultimately be overthrown. With regard to the idea of the nation, Irene Di Jorio explains in her introduction that Chabod provided, “an academic response to the canons of official fascist historiography and its foundations” and denounced, “the political manipulation of the past in order to exclude the influence of the French Revolution and the centrality of the value of freedom”. With regard to the idea of Europe, he provided a deconstruction of the instrumentalisation by the fascists and showed that the idea of Europe was a “modern” one completely disconnected from antiquity or mediaeval Christianity and rather, stemming from “the reflections from the Enlightenment”, which were transformed into a commonsense or “communis opinio” in the same epoch from a movement that was expected to put a brake on and obscure the rise of nationalism up until the tragedy of the two world wars. During his course of modern history, which he resumed and consolidated afterwards at the University of Rome's faculty of literature during the academic years 1947-1948 and 1958-1959, Federico Chabod subsequently provides, “a history of thought about Europe” that is both engaged but scientifically robust and based on the approach described by the historian himself as, “faith in a number of supreme moral and spiritual values created by our European civilisation, which stimulated the desire to remake the iter a Latin word denoting the path or journey - translator's note of this civilisation and, above all, respond to the question of how and when our ancestors became aware of being European”. The course notes were published in Italian by the friends of Federico Chabod, a year after he passed away in 1960. This is the French translation by Paul-Louis van Berg, which is now very fortunately provided to readers a little under a half a century later in this publication. (MT)
*** SOTIRIS VALDEN: L'Europe, la crise grecque et la gauche démocratique. Editions Polis (33 Eolou Street, GR-10551 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3643382 - fax: 3636501 - Email: info@polis-ed.gr - Internet: http://www.polis-ed.gr ). 2014, 304 pp. €14. ISBN 978-9-6043-5991-2.
This book includes a series of texts and commentaries about the developments in Greece and the European Union From 2009 to present day. It also looks out the causes of the Greek crisis and the political responses that were used to overcome the euro zone crisis, ranging from Germany's conservative policy to the position of the European left. Sotiris Valden is a guest lecturer at the Pantheon University and secretary-general for international economic relations at the national ministry for the economy. In this publication he examines the neo-Nazi phenomena and particular attention is paid to the concerns of the centre-left and the possible substance of much-needed reforms.
The author's starting point is his refusal to accept Greece' destruction as apparently sought by Europe and which sometimes seems to be unavoidable. He seeks to oppose this position, even though he also recognises that any crisis exit strategy and reconstruction would require major reform. Although he is critical of the Troika's European policies and memoranda, he believes that any future for Greece outside Europe would be even more difficult.
The author rejects both the populism of the right and left and believes that both of them need to an extreme, desperate and dangerous polarisation. Nonetheless, he refuses the neutrality of the “centre” and argues that the battles between left and right are far from over. He believes that an autonomous “third way” must be established in which the democratic left must be at its heart and a catalyst for a left with European orientations that could provide an alternative to the current government. (AKa)
*** DANIELA WAWRA (Editor): European Studies - Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kulturvergleich. Peter Lang (see address attached) 2013, 292 pp. €49.95. ISBN 978-3-631-63946-7.
This collection of articles is edited by Daniela Wawra and is entitled, “ European Studies - Intercultural Communication and Compared Cultures”. It is subdivided into three different parts: the first part contains articles about history and theory of culture, European identity and, finally, representations and forms of expression of European identities. This division, however, assumes a rather formal shape because of the diversity of the different articles published.
Many of them are interesting, which is particularly the case in the first part and the article by Christian Thies. In his analysis of historical philosophy, he presents a clear and original synthesis of the position and role played by the different continents in world history in different eras, whilst attempting to explain the different developments described. Thomas Wünsch provides us with a presentation and analysis of the work by the Russian-Polish historian, Jan Potocki, from an anthropological perspective.
In the second part, Daniela Wawra, demonstrates how metamorphosis has contributed to the construction of a European identity, as well as transcending certain national barriers through the creation of common representations. Werner Gamerith also provides a rather subtle and critical account of culture by examining the relationships between Europeans and the inhabitants of other continents in a context often characterised by colonisation. Another article on European public opinion, however, contains a sometimes fleeting analysis of some of the statistical data that has occasionally been influenced by a certain number of prejudices of which the author sometimes struggles to free himself and which undermines equality of his study displayed at the beginning of the article.
In the third and final part, a study of advertising contraceptives in different countries (France, Germany, United Kingdom) is described with the goal of analysing the media and providing a comparative study of the different cultures in this perspective. This is a rather debatable choice of study given the objectives set out, despite the theoretical contribution providing some interesting information. One article about jokes between different peoples as an element of culture provides a certain distraction but not much else to the reflection proposed by this collection of articles. Christoph Barmeyer, however, provides an honourable conclusion to this publication with a constructive and methodological article that analyses cultural specificities in the leadership of respective French and German organisations. With his “3-stroke”model he provides substance to his arguments in a very convincing way by drawing on his knowledge of different French and German professional customs, whilst providing a reference of the appropriate and scrupulously selected theoretical elements. (GLe)
*** EPHRAIM NIMNI, ALEXANDER OSIPOV & DAVID J. SMITH (Editors). The Challenge of Non-Territorial Autonomy. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2013, 255 pp. €56.20. ISBN 978-3-0343-1714-6.
In the preface to this book, the editors explain that wherever multicultural liberal democracies sincerely defend equality and human rights, they often suffer considerable difficulties in accommodating them to culturally diverse minorities. In light of this observation, this collectively written book seeks to explore and evaluate an important factor in the management of ethnic and religious diversity: non-territorial autonomy. This generic term is a reference to a variety of practices and theories in the area of strengthening minority communities and self-determination, which challenged the necessity of exclusive territorial control. The major advantage of this model is that it incorporates practices of governance there can be implemented when autonomous communities reside in common territorial areas and can therefore avoid the, “lethal competition for exclusive sovereignty”. Non-territorial autonomy can take different forms, such consociationalism or national cultural autonomy and can be the subject of different kind representation. Based on theoretical and empirical approaches, this book examines the challenges and solutions provided by different models of non-territorial autonomy for the effective participation of minorities in public life. The authors address a variety of different problem areas, such as the limits and opportunities provided by implementing these models in liberal democracies, the way they are used to promote European integration and the protection of European minorities, as well as their role in the resolution of territorial conflicts. The essays included in this collection were drafted during the multidisciplinary conference, “Minorities, Nations and Cultural Diversity: the Challenges of Non-Territorial Autonomy” at the University of Belfast in 2012 and organised in collaboration with the University of Glasgow. (SD)