Should a European project be universalistic? The case of Jürgen Habermas’ conception of European identity

Human Affairs ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michala Lysoňková

AbstractThe emergence of the European Union as an autonomous actor, to some degree independent of its member states, raises the issue of a common European identity. Nowadays, this identity is predominantly understood in universalistic terms. This is evident in Jürgen Habermas’ constitutional patriotism, which represents an attempt to integrate the EU on the basis of universal legal-political norms. This universalism is, however, problematic because identity is a relational notion and requires the constitution of a particular boundary. Although Habermas admits the necessity of drawing a distinction between the inside and the outside, his universalistic approach, which ignores cultural aspects, prevents the marking out of a substantive boundary. By contrast, the article asserts the view that European identity can be delineated only in virtue of its being distinct from some concrete out-groups and that, in addition to the normative dimension, redefined as particular, such an identity must also include a value one.

Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm

This chapter examines the question of who is sovereign in the relationship between the European Union and its Member States. It first considers the relevance of the debate over sovereignty in the EU and the development of the concept of sovereignty, paying attention to public powers form the substance of sovereignty, Jürgen Habermas’ theory of dual sovereignty, and the relevant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. It then explores the problem of whether one should maintain the concept of sovereignty or recognize that the era of post-sovereignty has begun. It argues that it makes sense to address the question of who is sovereign in the EU, suggesting that the answer will determine the future course of European integration. It also analyses which concept of sovereignty is best suited to understand and explain the EU.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-378
Author(s):  
Vanessa Capistrano Ferreira

A partir da análise da ordem jurídica da União Europeia, este trabalho busca identificar a  representação normativa vigente dos grupos culturais europeus – majoritários e minoritários – e, o projeto político de construção de um espaço público comum. Com a utilização da Teoria da Ação Comunicativa, de Jürgen Habermas, e da Teoria da Luta por Reconhecimento, de Axel Honneth, será possível evidenciar os limites e as possibilidades da afirmação de uma cidadania supranacional — calcada no estabelecimento de uma identidade comum europeia e na ideologia de harmonização social no interior do bloco — bem como, os paradoxos que perpassam o âmbito multicultural da integração. Esta investigação constitui-se como um esforço teórico essencial para a compreensão dos atuais empecilhos sociais europeus causados por medidas político-jurídicas implementadas pelos órgãos coordenadores da integração na sociedade civil. Deste modo, esta pesquisa utiliza-se da corrente crítica do pensamento social fundamentada, basicamente, nos estudos habermasianos e honnethianos. Outros importantes autores contribuirão com o fornecimento de concepções teóricas alternativas, com o objetivo de complementar a análise inicialmente proposta.Ao fim, pretende-se, como resultado esperado, questionar as concepções correntes acerca da possibilidade de criação de uma identidade comum europeia através da efetivação da cidadania supranacional e da manutenção da harmonia social por meios exclusivamente político-jurídicos. Arguir-se-á, desta maneira, os efeitos colaterais de tal implementação normativa nas sociedades europeias contemporâneas e a necessidade iminente de reestruturação político-institucional no atual projeto integracionista.   Abstract: From the analysis of the legal system of the European Union, this work aimed at identifying the current normative representation of European cultural groups – majority and minority – and, the political project of building of a common public space. Using the Theory of Communicative Action by Jürgen Habermas and the Theory of the Struggle for Recognition by Axel Honneth, it was possible to evidence the limits of the affirmation of a supranational citizenship, based on the establishment of an European identity and ideology of social harmonization, as well as the popular acceptance of this legislative framework. In addition, to further the paradoxes that pervade the multicultural context of European integration. This research constituted as an essential theoretical effort to understand the possible social obstacles caused by political and legal measures, implemented by bureaucratic agencies of the  integration in civil society. Thus, this study used the critical current of social studies based primarily on studies of Habermas and Honneth. Other important authors contributed to the provision of alternative theoretical concepts, in order to complement the analysis initially proposed. At the end, it was intended as expected outcome, questioning current thinking about the possibility of creating a common European identity through effective supranational citizenship and maintaining social harmony by political and legal means. It is argued in this way, the side effects of such implementation rules in contemporary European societies and the imminent need for political and institutional restructuring in the current European integration project. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110186
Author(s):  
Peter J Verovšek

Recent developments have highlighted the tension between democracy and late capitalist economics. In the wake of the Great Recession, international market forces have increasingly taken de facto control of politics. My basic thesis is that a modified version of Jürgen Habermas’ colonization thesis, which opposes the takeover of social and political life by the forces of power (administration) and money (economics), productively conceptualizes these developments. I argue that this framework can help to both diagnose and combat the dangers associated with the overexpansion of functional systemic forces, as well as the broader instrumentalization that they promote. By drawing on his political writings on the future of the European Union after the crisis of the Eurozone, I oppose interpretations of Habermas as a pacified liberal by demonstrating that he shares Karl Marx’s commitment to combatting naturalized views of economics and material reproduction as a force that lie outside of human control.


Dieter Grimm ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 155-160
Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm

The chapter deals with the impact of European interpretation on the national constitution and the national constitutional courts. It reflects Dieter Grimm’s position on a European constitution, his controversy with Jürgen Habermas, his thesis of the “over-constitutionalization” of the EU as one of the most important, but at least noticed causes of the diminishing acceptance of the EU.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soetkin Verhaegen ◽  
Marc Hooghe ◽  
Ellen Quintelier

In the literature, two approaches toward the development of a European identity can be distinguished. Society-based approaches assume that the most important foundation for the development of a European identity is trust toward other European citizens as this allows Europeans to identify with the European Union as a community of citizens and values. The institutional approach, on the other hand, assumes that a shared European identity is predominantly based on trust in political institutions. In this paper, we use the results of the IntUne Mass Survey 2009 (n=16,613 in 16 EU member states) to test the relationship between social and political trust on the one hand, and European identity on the other. The results suggest that trust in other European citizens is positively associated with European identity, but trust in the European political institutions has a stronger relation with European identity. This could imply that efforts to strengthen European identity cannot just rely on a bottom-up approach, but should also pay attention to the effectiveness and the visibility of the EU institutions and the way they are being perceived by European citizens.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fajar Muhammad Nugraha

The EU is very concerned with the implementation of Human Rights, so it has become the basic value and the main terms in its membership1. The EU's desire toexpand the territorial prompts efforts to discipline the implementation of Human Rights is intensified in order to increase the number of members. However, individual identity, how one defines itself as a nation, and freedom of expression are also major points in Human Rights. This is clearly a major obstacle that unknowingly appears in the territorial expansion efforts being undertaken by the European Union. The most obvious and most recent example is the occurrence of Brexit through the EU referendum in June 2016 which resulted in the United Kingdom having to quit the EU membership. This is a major blow to the EU, because in the course of territorial expansion, the EU would have to lose one of its larger member states. This paper discusses the paradox of the virtue of Human Rights as a value that is upheld within the EU and the freedom of individuals and nations in defining themselves, as well as an identity crisis which is beginning to undermine the comfort of life in society.


Author(s):  
Ariane Bogain ◽  
Florence Potot

In an era of increased globalisation, the need for a sense of belonging and an identity is becoming more pressing. The way nations form images of others and, conversely, conscious or unconscious images of themselves is becoming increasingly important as these images impact on public opinion and on political and decision-making discourse. With the development of supranationalism in Europe, the age-old notion of European identity has come more and more to the fore. Conflicting interpretations and a general disinclination to consider the matter leave the notion of European identity as polysemic as ever. Furthermore, the expansion of the EU has contributed to blurring this notion, so much so that in the collective psyche, it has become closely linked to the membership of the European Union and it is proving sometimes difficult to dissociate one from the other. In this context, the debate surrounding Turkey’s membership of the EU gives an insight into prototypical and stereotypical representations of Europe. As the controversy has been particularly salient in France, the aim of this study is to explore the European self-conceptions and images of the other through the example of France’s opposition to Turkey’s membership of the EU. For this purpose, opinion polls and the Press will be used as forms of narrative in order to highlight these representations and how they have evolved in time. The first part of the study will concentrate on the arguments put forward to justify the opposition to Turkey joining the EU. The second part will then evaluate how the image of the other contributes to the prototypical representation French citizens have of Europe.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Gowder

In a condition of genuine egalitarian inclusion, a “constitutional conception” of popular sovereignty derived primarily from the “constitutional patriotism” associated with Jürgen Habermas can resolve the key challenges associated with the countermajoritarian problem in constitutional theory as well as the problem of constituent power in democratic theory. It does so by providing a conceptual basis for an understanding of the the constitutional demos as a corporate body extending across time capable of ongoing legitimation. However, the constitutional conception cannot justify states, such as the United States, characterized by the durable exclusion of some legitimate members of the polis from political institutions. Even under the constitutional conception, the United States is not a legitimate constitutional democracy in virtue of its treatment of Black Americans. Nonetheless, there is an important tradition in Black American constitutional thought, beginning with Frederick Douglass, which represents American constitutional institutions as conditionally worthy of attachment in virtue of their latent normative potential. The correct conception of constitutional legitimacy for the United States combines Douglass's insights, and those of his intellectual heirs, with those working in the tradition which Habermas represents.


2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell A. Miller

The third essay in Habermas' collection The Divided West is entitled “February 15, or: What Binds Europeans.” The essay regionalizes the global claims Habermas makes in the longer chapter “Does the Constitutionalization of International Law Still Have a Chance?” That is, in “February 15” Habermas makes the case for a European post-national order that he hopes will become the vanguard for the emergence of universal cosmopolitanism. Habermas concludes that all that is lacking for the achievement of this beachhead from which Europe can, in its turn, champion a “community of free and equal citizens” in a “global public sphere,” is a “European identity.”


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