History of the European Identity

History of the atomic keep down 63an IdentityIntroductionAlthough the concept of collective individualism element operator is a post-colonial phenomenon, a few provinces would describe themselves downstairs a collective individualism before the modern clips of the 19th Century. In fact, europium is historically unique in terms that it has been the tidy sum living in the unblemished of europium who guide persistently described themselves as atomic number 63ans since the 17th Century (Pagden, 2002). Indeed, atomic number 63an fusion emerged as the around of import effort for creating a supra theme entity in the Continent and the best example of a Pan-European putting sur hardiness personal personal individuality as so far out the words Europe and the European sum total be being utilize as synonyms by millions of state every twenty-four hours. Nevertheless, an skepticism of a greenness individualism has always been the case for Europeans throughout fib and the physical as well as neighborly b erects of Europe has never been distinctly known for centuries which are full of wars, tensions, competition and blood.Today, the same problem continues to exist and many believe that it is the major factor close up the efforts for achieving a fully integrated Europe, as the interpretation and frontiers of a viridity European identicalness is motionlessness unknown. Indeed, one of the most important issues of the European integration from a socio- governmental lieu is the vague concept of a customary European individuation including prospects of European Union Citizenship. Although a common European individualism had been yen around for centuries, these are fairly crude issues in relevance to the half a century massive history of at presents European Union. However, I believe how the common European identity is specify is very important for the prox steps of the integration process, as nowadays the EU is nethergoing trans fake ation towards a policy-making alliance with an aim to become a global actor in the inter depicted object political arena. What shall be the elements of a common European identity, how shall it be formulized if it is to become a successful construct which would define Europe mightily to end the efforts that lasted for such a huge prison term?I believe a triumphant common European identity must include the concrete and typic realities and it must be rooted to the regeneration of destinations which had been created by the long history of Europe (DAppollonia, 2002). some former(a)wise, if it remains as a form of thin identity suggested by Habermas (2006), the problems and uncertainties of European identity as well as the poorly functioning European Union citizenship is most in all likelihood to exist in the Unions foreseeable future. In fact, a common European identity stub simply be successfully constructed by taking into account all the ambiguities, contradictions and deve lopments in form of a unison in transmutation principle which can be applied to the reality of Europe rather than building a shallow and artificial construct as it seems to be instantly. Theoretically, a join Europe in political terms is make possible if a united Europe in heathen terms is beed through formulating a collective common identity which whitethorn only be conceived as a collection of multiple and complex values created by complicated kinetics of Europes long history. Nevertheless, a united Europe in pagan terms shall non mean a homogenous and strictly ordered European alliance rather the European identity shall celebrate Europes long tradition of diversity.An opposite important question is how should European Union citizenship be defined and what should be the frontiers of cultural implications of such a political formulation. Considering the wide cultural diversity and long history that the individual members of the European Union had plow in the European co ntinent, a collective identity may prove to be far too complex to construct, so one may argue that a common European identity is all the same an illusion. Although Europeans have a successfully formed a common economic and pull aheadively political union, they are still far away from the desired level of cultural unity and a common identity which seems to be an alarming factor for the next stages of the European integration. Nonetheless, European Union citizenship is an sweep open to developments and it might be used as a critically important tool by the European Union leaders to accumulate a common European identity, only if it is formulized correctly. The critical dapple on the debate of European Union citizenship is that the dominant Classical Model of Citizenship is based on the structures of nation- commonwealth and that is wherefore this model cannot be applied to the European Union, as it is a whole miscellaneous level of organization. On the new(prenominal) hand, Po st-National citizenship is a modern approach to the issue of European identity and it is suitable to Europe in order to reach its goals of unification and deepening through building a stronger common identity in the 21st Century.This paper is organized in several sections. European identity from a historical perspective is analyzed in the first lineament the current status of European identity and the issue of national identities in contrast to the common European identity is discussed in the following part a new European identity and suggestions for a new formulation is given in the third part a brief history of European Union efforts and progress on building a common identity is examined in the fourth part and finally the aspects of European Union Citizenship is discussed in the fifth part of this paper. later on all, this paper argues that a common identity in form of a collective European identity is clearly necessary for the Union at this stage of integration, and it is a cru cial element for the future of the European integration project in particular as our area is getting smaller as well as more fragmented simultaneously cod to the complex dynamics of international relations every day at the age of globalization. European Citizenship is very much connected to the issue of European identity and it is the recognise to achieving such a strong common European identity when it is formulized as a Post-National phenomenon. The Europeans must pull in their power from the diversity of their cultures by building a thick identity for Europe rather than a thin identity which consists of merely political rights unless the Europeans shall not everyplacelook the uniqueness of the Continent and the similarities they share in comparison to the rest of the earth emphasized by the Unity in Diversity principle. Today, it is snip for the Europeans to unite under one roof in socio-political terms, complete the long standing task of formation the boundaries of the European civilization by establishing a common and collective European identity in order to select on the progress of the European integration project in a globalized world. Nonetheless, the question of possibilities of the Europeans to compass such a high level of cultural as well as political unity remains a question and it is subject to a whole different level of research. However, often seen as a regional product of globalization itself, I believe the European integration project cannot progress any farther without achieving a common European identity which is more critical than ever today in order to overcome the challenges of globalization in the 21st Century.Identity has always been a debatable concept because it is uncertain, fluid and highly flexible. Identity is the way to define ones self and to differentiate from the differents. If taken literally, identity means follow, identical. Identity is not static but dynamic, and it can be defined in different ways in diffe rent circumstances. Identity is construct, which cannot be constructed immediately but only in time. It is not a fixed, immutable and pre-given entity man identity formation is heavily dependent on how one is perceive by the others. Identification implies belonging or membership, in turn which implies the exclusion of non-members (Bretherton Vogler,1999 236).In other words, the sole heading of identity is to cut off self from the others in a wiz. Moreover, identities are multiple in nature, or even kaleidoscopic. A person may have a single identity, but it will be made up of many levels of loyalty and recognition (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995 18). Meanwhile, identities change, because they are based on perceptions, which themselves change over time and environment as it is possible to identify ones self with more than one thing at a time such as class and gender, or religion and age. in that locationfore there are motley elements of ones identity and these various e lements in an identity may well be contradictory (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995 12).On the other hand, a collective identity means the attitudes, which all members of that group have in common in their thoughts and behavior which differentiates them from the other (Munch, 2001 137). corporate identities can provide existential meaning for people, thus they are primary quill means of unity in a society which give additional stability especially during periods of upheaval. Collective identities can generate a degree of continuity amid individuals and their friendly environment, and can confer social recognition and approval (Von Benda-Beckmann Verkuyten, 1995 24). Therefore, collective identities are defined mainly by culture from a historical grade of view rather than biological genes, paganity, patriotism or simple political rights. Finally, It they are used to construct confederacy and feelings of viscidity and holism, a concept to give the impression that all indiv iduals are equal in the imagined community (Strath, 2002 387). From the perspective of political science there are two types of political identities a civic identity and a cultural identity. The cultural definition of political identity entails a sniff out of belonging of an individual towards a particular group which can mostly defined by its undifferentiated cultural or ethnic values. On the other hand, the civic definition of political identity involves with the identification of an individual mostly in form of citizenry with a political structure, which includes political institutions, rights, duties and rules (Bruter, 2004 26). Therefore, a cultural European identity implies a reference to Europe as a continent, a civilization and a cultural entity whereas a civic European identity implies a reference to the political and institutional aspects of European Union identity largely in the form of EU citizenship.Europe has always been more of a mental construct than a geographic o r social entity (Lowenthal, 2000 314). Europe has no lifelike frontiers some(prenominal) in geographic and sociological terms. Therefore it had never been easy to acquire a singular definition of European identity because the borders of Europe had always been dynamic, and no one knew where Europe started and Europe ended (Pagden, 2002). A European identity is an abstraction and a fiction without essential proportions (Strath, 2002 387). The concept of a European identity is an idea expressing artificial notions of unity rather than an identity of equality. In this sense, the concept of European identity is engrave in a long history of political reflection on the concept of Europe. From the perspective of history, Europe has been united as a singular entity in various settings for a number of times in its past such as the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Napoleonic Empire, and arguably the Nazi ternary Reich. Identity was only conceptualized as a macro-level collective ph enomenon by the intellectual elites of Europe on the other hand, for the rural masses of Europe, identity was a local term associated with the micro-level, rarely the nation and never an accompanying as large as the continent of Europe (Pagden, 2002). In different period of history, a common European identity had been defined on different basis. In the Middle Ages, Christianity was the main defining attribute of European identity, whereas in modern times, the emergence of the nation state, periods of patriotism and afterwards democracy and secularism has been the common feature article of the Europeans. Meanwhile, Christianity lost its dominance yet it arguably remained as one of the important components of European identity.Today, the European Union similar to the continent of Europe can be characterized by overlapping and unclear boundaries. From a geographical perspective, the EU has fuzzy boundaries due to the ongoing enlargement processes since the 1970s (Risse, 2003 490). Although the geographical borders of Europe are not objectively defined particularly in the east, a state without a geographical relevance to the European continent cannot become a part of the European Union, even if it shares the EUs collective values and norms. Moreover what adds to the uncertainty of Europes borders is that boundaries of the EU may change according to different policy fields such as the Schengen includes the non EU member Norway but at the same time it does not include the EU member state the coupled Kingdom. Therefore, first of all the lack of solid geographical boundaries weakens efforts of the EU to be seen as a singular entity by its own people (Castano, 2004). On the contrary, diversity shall be the main characteristic of European identity from a cultural point of view. Religious and cultural heritages including Roman law, political democracy, parliamentary institutions, spiritual rebirth humanism, rationalism, romanticism characterize the common identity of the Europeans (Smith, 1992). On the other hand, there are undeniable socioeconomic, cultural, national and ethnic differences among the member states of the European Union. Nevertheless, this reality is reflected in the motto of the Union which is unity in diversity from a positive point of view.A collective political culture is an important feature of the common European identity. The Greeks gave Europe the science and philosophy and the Romans gave it the idea of single continent and unity which created Europes strong cultural and political origins. The diverse and multiple cultures of the ancient Europe share a single identity as they were brought together under a common system of Roman law. The people of Europe also shared a common language, Latin, and after Europe slowly converted to Christianity they acquired a common religion. Christianity has been a crucial part of the European identity and it played a disclose role to create its internal cohesion and to designate its r elationship with the rest of the world. Further references are made to Europes identity besides its heritage of untainted Graeco-Roman civilization and Christianity such as the ideas of the heaven, Science, Reason, Progress, Industrialization, Democracy and Individualization as the core elements of this claimed European legacy (Wintle, 1996 13-16). Hellenism, Romanticism, welfare society and cross-fertilization of diversity can be added to this list (Garcias, 1993 7-9), while one may argue that Europes core values include its commitments to an undivided continent, to individual freedom, and to the universalism of humanity (Havel, 1996).However, this unity never reached to the point of manduction a common European culture. A single body of citizenry or a common cultural identity could not be reached even in the peak of Europes history of unity. When the differences deep down Europe are emphasized, they are often in the form of unity in diversity spiritual differences such as Ca tholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christianity, and linguistic differences including Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages are obvious yet they are seen as correlated, CatholicRomance, ProtestantGermanic, OrthodoxSlavic, and essentially are underlying the major ethnic cleavages and impinges in the history of Europe. Anthony Smith is among the scholars who are skeptical of the possibility of a common European identity because they could not find a common culture crosswise the European continent, and even more critically they claim that Europe lacks of a shared set of myths, ingest and symbols these elements which they find crucial to create post-national identity (Smith, 1992 72-73). Furthermore, Europe lacks of a shared historical and cultural content as which is the largest source of division among Europeans. Other obstacles to a common European identity include linguistic diversity and its tripartite religious division. In fact, a major difference among EU countries is the persi stence of linguistic diversity, even though in practical level English has become the dominant language in Europe. Language does not only have an instrumental but also an emotional dimension and peoples sense of nationality is often tied up with their take tongue (Guibernau, 2001 192).On the other side of the debate, scholars such as Michael Wintle are more optimistic on the possibility of creating a European identity. Indeed, the existence of the EU identity in the form of converging rearing standards, educational exchanges, and the organization of a European civil society is already established in most separate of Europe. Wintle argues that a European identity was previously already created during the high Middle Age (Wintle, 1996 19-22), and it can be easily established today considering the forces of globalization. For now, the major success of the EU in nurseing its identity has been limited with the increasing free movement of people across European borders, which has acce lerated since the 1985 and white-tieized in 1990 Schengen accords parallelly correlated with the rising impact of globalization. Increased interaction among peoples of Europe would also encourage cultural exchanges and this could foster a stronger sense of a shared community. Education and high culture shall play a key role in European Unions cultural policy, because these two factors have an important effect on the being of the EU identity. Education is obviously one of the crucial dimensions in any attempt to develop the future identity of the EU or at least more understanding and convergence among Europeans high culture unites Europeans against the low culture which separates them. After all, the development of the EU identity will be the outcome of a long process in which bottom-up as well as top-down initiatives are likely to be employed (Guibernau, 2001 183-184).The idea of Europe as well as the identity of Europeans are constructed over time with processes of contention and bargaining. Gerard Delanty argues that a European Culture is not an entity with cohesion and fixed boundaries, but a floppy concept, with no clear borders and with internal opposition and contradictions, discursively shaped in contentious social bargaining processes (Delanty, 1995 1999). In other words, the images of Europe do not exist as a natural phenomenon but are discursively shaped by internal as well as out-of-door forces (Strath, 2002). A basic step in the process of creating a collective identity is to defining itself in relation to the other. Central to ones identifications are images of others. Likewise any identity, European identity necessarily contains a course from the non-European. This is natural to all distinctions, and they are both inclusive and exclusive. The boundaries of Europe can only be bony and the identity of Europe can only be realized in the mirror of others. Indeed, Europe does not exist without non-Europe and that non-Europe does not exist without Europe. Many centuries ago, the Europeans defined people living in the north as uncivilized and people living in the south as oriental (Pagden, 2002). Furthermore, the Greeks labeled the non-Greek speaking people as barbarians, even if that word would surely have a different meaning by that time. In nearer times, although the Russians shared many features with a European society including the same religion, it could not reach the formal limits of a Romanized civilization thus perceived as a barbaric empire or the orient, depending on the time. Moreover, European belief of its superiority relied on the common features of European societies such as science and barren arts. Thus the rest of the world could only be portrayed as actors in relation to Europe, in other words always remained as the other.According to Delanty, Europe has been always invented and reinvented on the basis of division and strategy for the construction of difference from the other starting from Christian identi ty against Islam in the Middle-Ages, after that in the colonial politics to the New World, and to the ethnic minorities in the contemporary European Union (Delanty, 1995). Therefore, historical experience suggests that the new European identity may be constructed on the other which may be the United States, the East, Islam or the European past itself. Samuel Huntington has argued that religion provides the best common means of historically distinguishing between Europeans and the other, especially in terms of the confrontation between the Judeo-Christian tradition and Islam (Huntington, 1996). However, at the same time, the judicial separation between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Western variations of Christianity has, for a long time, been crucial in establishing a division between Western and Eastern Europe partially reinforced in the Cold War, divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism and separation between North and South (Guibernau, 2001).Today, the European Union i s frequently argued to be a fortress for the other and the EU is often referred to as a Christian Club, because historically all states on the continent of Europe had Christian societies. The Ottoman Empire was the greatest enemy of European states as well as Christianity in the Middle Ages which made Islam the primary charactersitic of the other for Europeans from the perspective of history. Today, the accession dialogues of Turkey into the European Union airlift wide public opposition in Europe while the European Union officials make constant efforts to prove their allegiance to non-religious, non-ethnic but solely liberal and non discriminatory Copenhagen Criteria independent from historical aspects of the other which has very been extensively used to define the European identity. Finally, Europe is unique because it has possessed an identity as a cultural space which gave birth to political unions throughout its history. However, it has never succeeded to constitute a single n ation-state or a unified ethnic group. Although the European Union with its single currency and supranational political and reasoned institutions changed these historical facts to an extent, it is only possible with the means of a common European identity which will carry Europe to the next stage of integration which it always aimed but failed to achieve during its long history. Nevertheless, history has already proved that it will surely be hard to overcome uncertainties of a common European identity at the level of the masses.Over the past millennium, the advancements of European civilization gave rise to the elites living on the continent of Europe who feel increasingly attached to Europe as a whole and shared dreams of a united continent. However, Europe as a realm sharing a common history as well as a common destiny has been largely abandoned by fixed prejudices on often nationalistic and ethnic grounds. National interests and biases at local, national, and global levels have prevented the masses of European people from viewing themselves collectively (Lowenthal, 2000 315). However, today, forces of globalization, advancements in communications technologies and media transmission of everyday popular culture now promotes the sense of being European among larger segments of society other than the European elites. Although a truly trans-European society is still in its infancy, many of its essential elements are already in place this time largely due to the forces of globalization. Most European states are increasingly democratic in reality their economies are for the most part market driven their popular culture grows more homogeneous as communication technologies expand under the forces of globalization in the 21st Century (Waterman, 1999 23). Therefore, Europe is at the stage of defining its identity today however which criteria are being deployed to define Europe, Europeans, Europeanness and their respective boundaries is critically important. A common European identity must be constructed by defining and understanding the historical grow of outstanding features of the European society in relation to the notion of citizenship, which will be discussed in depth in the following parts developed in the past over the land of Europe. For sure, Europe is being redefined as a closure of a complex set of processes, but an important question is what sort of Europe is emerging from them?There is certainly a structured symmetry in the perception of the European Union as the coincidence of a homogenized socio-political space, a unified regulatory space of an EU super-state, a singular European civil society surpassing existing national and regional differences in culture and identity (Hudson, 2000). In some respects there has been progress towards such an ideal of European civil society. For example, the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights have had an important role in defining acceptable standards across Europe. T he issue of European identity and the criteria used to denote Europeans is clearly a critical one for the political and social integrity for the European Union. Europe will exist as an unquestionable political community only when European identity permeates peoples lives and daily existence (Demos 1998). Identity is a key issue which is always changing and thats the reason why it is so hard to define especially in a world of fast changes in the 21st Centurys globalization. The member states of todays enlarged EU have become multi-ethnic and multi-cultural societies with various structural phenomenon ranging from the immigrant community of France to Post-Communist yet ethnic communities of the Central and Eastern European states. As the EU grow eastwards in the last two rounds of enlargements, the issue of defining a European identity became even more critical for sake of integrity and stability of the Union.One conception of a singular European identity would see it constructed th rough a process similar to that involved in the creation of national identities in the 19th and the 20th Centuries. Ironically, while the aim was to create those national identities in the past, the challenge that Europeans face today would be to transcend them for the creation of Europeannes. However, the current trends at local European level are quite different from the interests of Europeanists at the supranational level. There are pressures from nation states and their citizens to resist any further transfer of national sovereignty as well as erosion of national identity (Hudson, 2000). In fact, the success of extreme right wing political parties in important European countries such as Austria and France may be seen as a sign of the reappearance of dangerous nationalist and racist ambitions which the peoples of Europe have most probably experienced more than any other continent in the world history.Eric Hobsbawm has proclaimed that nationalism is dead (Hobsbawm, 1990). On the c ontrary, Llobera argues that national identities are certainly not eternal, but the time of their demise has not yet arrived (Llobera, 2003). In fact, national identities are still dominant in Europe. new-made surveys show that, people in Europe prefer maintaining their national identity and sovereignty, but increasing number of people have accepted European identity in addition to their national identities. Therefore, European nationalism is another important component of a common European identity and it has been a major ideologic tool for unifying nation states as well as the Europeans as a whole throughout Europes history. To start with, the European Union, with its both intergovernmental and supranational characteristics represents a far different type of state-organization than a authorized nation state. The main distinguishing characteristics of the EU from the nation-state are the absence of a shared language, a uniform media, common education system and a central state st ructure (Shore, 2000 64). Furthermore, the powers of the EU rely on the sharing of sovereignty of its member states. European unification is a progressive method of limiting individual nation states to practice any kind of harmful nationalism and this is makes up an important part of the European identity. At this point, nationalist Euroskeptics may argue that building a common Europe and an identity for it means destroying nations. However, a general feeling of Europeanness and loyalty to Europe in a cultural sense, does not need to conflict with national identities (Andreani, 1999).A successful construct of European identity must include the concrete and symbolic realities created within time. The European states have not always been nationalist through Europes long history. The definition of nationalism counts on the idea of nation and territory while the definition of a European nationalism depends on the historical and ideological evolution of the European nation states and asp irations for a post-national Europe. In fact, the aspirations that underlie in the roots of the foundation of the European Union are parallel to European cosmopolitanism in the 18th and the 19th centuries. From the Enlightenment to the beginning of the ECSC after the Second World War European nationalism found two separate meanings one as an antinational Pan-European idea of a new united Europe that limits the sovereignty of the nation states, and the other as a pro-national ideology to create or legitimate new nation states (DAppollonia, 2002).Historically, cosmopolitanism reflected intentions for a European unity, and gave rise to anti-national European nationalism. European nationalism was characterized by the will to protect the European interests and its supremacy from non-Europeans as well as protecting Europe from itself by creating a federation. It can be argued that economic development, commercial message prosperity, intellectual-supremacy and military power were the fact ors making Europe homogeneous and created a united European identity beyond national borders to an extent. Some intellectuals as well as economists believe that the nation state is an outdated political and economic entity, and nationalism is merely an expression of old prejudiced and narrow-minded ideas. European nationalism defined itself similar to the nation state through common identity and culture, territory, historical memory building, and economic and political objectives to defend self-interests. The defensive conception of European nationalism on the other hand had always been a driving factor, yet the pro-nationalist ideologies had been the major cause underlying the wars of modern times. As Europe was divided into militant nation states, the idea of Europe had increasingly converged. Although the wars were dividing factors themselves, their interpretations by the Europeanists became powerful unifying factors for Europe. The irony of European nationalism is that it depen ds on the memory of events that divided rather than united the continent (DAppollonia, 2002).Although it used the same definitions of nation and Europe with the anti-national European nationalism from time to time, it remained limited to the strict logic of the national framework. Transnational solidarities were necessity to establish European unity under either a supranational or an intergovernmental structure. For some intellectuals, European nationalism was the only way to protect the autonomy of nations and the liberty of the individuals. Conceptualizing of the European Union citizenship and creation of the Committee of the Regions in the EU were seen as efforts of the Pro-national European nationalists. These forms of European nationalism rejected the form of narrow nationalism while it showed ambitions to reinforce the intermediary actions between state and individual, between the individual, the market the centralizati