A Community of Europeans?: Transnational Identities and Public Spheres

by Thomas Risse

Overview

In A Community of Europeans? a thoughtful observer of the ongoing project of European integration evaluates the state of the art about European identity and European public spheres. Thomas Risse argues that integration has had profound and long-term effects on the citizens of EU countries, most of whom now have at least a secondary "European identity" to complement their national identities. Risse also claims that we can see the gradual emergence of transnational European communities of communication. Exploring the outlines of this European identity and of the communicative spaces, Risse sheds light on some pressing questions: What do "Europe" and "the EU" mean in the various public debates? How do European identities and transnational public spheres affect policymaking in the EU? And how do they matter in discussions about enlargement, particularly Turkish accession to the EU? What will be the consequences of the growing contestation and politicization of European affairs for European democracy?

This focus on identity allows Risse to address the "democratic deficit" of the EU, the disparity between the level of decision making over increasingly relevant issues for peoples' lives (at the EU) and the level where politics plays itself out—in the member states. He argues that the EU's democratic deficit can only be tackled through politicization and that "debating Europe" might prove the only way to defend modern and cosmopolitan Europe against the increasingly forceful voices of Euroskepticism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801446634
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2010
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas Risse is Professor of International Politics, Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. He is coeditor of The End of the West? Conflict and Change in the Atlantic Order, also from Cornell, and author of books including Cooperation among Democracies: The European Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Europeanization of Identities and Public SpheresPart I. An Emerging European Identity?
1. Collective Identities: Conceptual and Methodological Questions
2. Multiple Europes: The Europeanization of Citizens' Identities
3. Modern Europe and Its Discontents: The Europeanization of Elite Identities
4. Europeanization of National Identities: ExplanationsPart II: An Emerging European Public Sphere?
5. Transnational Public Spheres: Conceptual Questions
6. The Gradual Europeanization of Public Spheres
7. A European Community of Communication?Part III: Consequences
8. "Deepening": European Institution-Building
9. "Widening": EU Enlargement and Contested Identities
10. European Democracy and PoliticizationConclusions: Defending Modern EuropeReferences
Index

What People are Saying About This

Neil Fligstein

Thomas Risse has taken up the hard question of whether or not a European public sphere exists. He has tentatively answered 'yes.' But, he also has a realistic view of the limits of that sphere and the political forces that affect the possibility of that sphere expanding, contracting or leading to bad outcomes. His perspective marks a clear position in this important debate about the future of Europe. This makes the book well worth reading.

Gary Marks

In a book that will become a classic, Thomas Risse provides a fascinating, comprehensive, and wise analysis of European identity. This book is a model of conceptual clarity, empirical richness, and theoretical acuity that is certain to shape both the field of European studies and debate about the future of Europe.

Thomas Banchoff

A Community of Europeans? is a pathbreaking contribution that brings together the main strands of theoretical and policy debate since the EU's current identity crisis began in the early 1990s and evaluates them against the best and most up-to-date empirical data. Thomas Risse has been a leading voice in these debates since their inception.

Vivien Schmidt

This timely and important book spans sociology, comparative politics, and international relations. Thomas Risse was one of the first to write about European identity issues as well as about the European public sphere; he combines sophisticated quantitative methodology with careful qualitative analysis.

Editorial Reviews

"Thomas Risse has taken up the hard question of whether or not a European public sphere exists. He has tentatively answered 'yes.' But, he also has a realistic view of the limits of that sphere and the political forces that affect the possibility of that sphere expanding, contracting or leading to bad outcomes. His perspective marks a clear position in this important debate about the future of Europe. This makes the book well worth reading."

Neil Fligstein

"This timely and important book spans sociology, comparative politics, and international relations. Thomas Risse was one of the first to write about European identity issues as well as about the European public sphere; he combines sophisticated quantitative methodology with careful qualitative analysis."

Vivien Schmidt

"In a book that will become a classic, Thomas Risse provides a fascinating, comprehensive, and wise analysis of European identity. This book is a model of conceptual clarity, empirical richness, and theoretical acuity that is certain to shape both the field of European studies and debate about the future of Europe."

Gary Marks

"A Community of Europeans? is a pathbreaking contribution that brings together the main strands of theoretical and policy debate since the EU's current identity crisis began in the early 1990s and evaluates them against the best and most up-to-date empirical data. Thomas Risse has been a leading voice in these debates since their inception."

Thomas Banchoff

"In a book that will become a classic, Thomas Risse provides a fascinating, comprehensive, and wise analysis of European identity. This book is a model of conceptual clarity, empirical richness, and theoretical acuity that is certain to shape both the field of European studies and debate about the future of Europe."—Gary Marks, Chair in Multilevel Governance, VU Amsterdam, and Burton Craige Professor, UNC–Chapel Hill

"Thomas Risse has taken up the hard question of whether or not a European public sphere exists. He has tentatively answered 'yes.' But, he also has a realistic view of the limits of that sphere and the political forces that affect the possibility of that sphere expanding, contracting or leading to bad outcomes. His perspective marks a clear position in this important debate about the future of Europe. This makes the book well worth reading."—Neil Fligstein, University of California, Berkeley

"A Community of Europeans? is a pathbreaking contribution that brings together the main strands of theoretical and policy debate since the EU's current identity crisis began in the early 1990s and evaluates them against the best and most up-to-date empirical data. Thomas Risse has been a leading voice in these debates since their inception."—Thomas Banchoff, Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University

"This timely and important book spans sociology, comparative politics, and international relations. Thomas Risse was one of the first to write about European identity issues as well as about the European public sphere; he combines sophisticated quantitative methodology with careful qualitative analysis."—Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University

From the Publisher