The Concept of European Values

Cultura ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Sanja IVIC
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
European Identity ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
European Heritage ◽  
Political Approach ◽  
European Values ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Homogeneous Culture ◽  
Rules Of The Game

This inquiry investigates the concept of European values and cultural, philosophical, legal and political presuppositions on which the idea of European values is based. There are two approaches to the idea of European values. The first one is substantive approach (and includes philosophical, ethical, religious and ideological understanding of values). The substantive approach defines European values as based on the European heritage (ancient Greece and Rome, Christianity, Renaissance and humanism, Enlightenment and liberal traditions). This conception of European values is fixed. Another understanding of European values is represented by legal/political approach (that includes the definition of European values within European treatises, declarations, charters and other documents). Legal and political definition of European values includes: human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Most authors consider that only from this second level, from legal and political definition, general features of European values can be achieved, that is, universal rules of the game. This paper shows how these two different approaches can be integrated, relying on John Rawls’s idea of overlapping consensus. It should be emphasized that the question of European values and European identity is still a topic of debate. There are different definitions and interpretations of these concepts, regardless of the legal definitions within the framework of European declarations and treaties. European identity (based on European values) is a polyphonic category, which cannot be founded on monolithic definitions. Otherwise, the entire continent would fall under the rule of one homogeneous culture.

Memorialising Europe

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jan Margry
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Civil Religion ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Identity ◽  
European Values ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Political Unification ◽  
European Form

In the economic and political unification process of Europe, the idea of the creation of a pan-European identity was put high on the political agenda. With the failure of this effort, the emphasis shifted to the apparently less fraught concept of 'shared cultural heritage'. This article analyses how the politically guided rediscovery of Europe's past has contributed to the creation of a 'Religion of Heritage', not only by raising up a political altar for cultural heritage, but also through the revitalisation, instrumentalisation and transformation of the Christian heritage, in order to try to memorialise and affirm a collective European identity based on its Christian past. In the context of this process, the network of European pilgrims' ways appears to have been an especially successful performative form of heritage creation, which has both dynamised Christian roots as a relevant trans-European form of civil religion that has taken shape, capitalising on the new religious and spiritual demands created by secularisation, and responded to the demand for shared - and Christian inspired - European values and meanings in times of uncertainty and crisis.

scholarly journals Integration processes and identity: a view of the European youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Elena V. Viktorova ◽  
Daria A. Petrenko ◽  
Natalia V. Vlasova
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Study Materials ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Study Results ◽  
European Values ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
European Youth

The presented article, based on the empirical study materials, examines the concept of European identity and the attitude to the European integration of the young people in a number of the EU countries. The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of a clear definition of the concept of “European identity” in the scientific discourse, as well as the need to assess to what extent the opinion of Europeans, in particular of the younger generation, coincides with the statements of researchers in this field. The objective of this study is to determine how representatives of European youth understand European identity, to highlight its main elements and assess the impact of European integration processes on the formation of European and national identities. Students from European countries were selected as the target group of the study, since their worldview was formed in the context of a united Europe. The research was carried out within the framework of the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Project “Transformation of identities in Europe and Russia in modern conditions” (Project No. 611458-EPP-1-2019-1-RU-EPPJMO-PROJECT). In conducting the research, the in-depth interview was chosen as the main method.he results of the study showed that respondents, whilst identifying themselves as Europeans, still find their national identity more important. Among the elements of European identity, the respondents name, first of all, “European values” (mobility, freedom, democracy), as well as cultural (religion) and behavioral characteristics (love of travel). The study results are preliminary and allow us to identify the most significant trends in the formation of the modern European identity, that will serve as the basis for further research.

scholarly journals Changes in the Concept of Lithuanian Identity in Public Consciousness in 2008–2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-83
Author(s):  
Aida Savicka
Keyword(s):  
European Identity ◽  
European Values Survey ◽  
Differentiation Factors ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
European Values ◽  
Identity Based

What is the prevailing concept of Lithuanian identity and the importance of different criteria used to define it? How do they fit in with the newly constructed European identity? Based on the data of the European Values Survey, the article analyzes the dominant notion of Lithuanian identity in our society, the importance of criteria used to define it, and the dynamics of evaluations of the importance of these criteria in the period from 2008 to 2017, revealing essential sociodemographic and other differentiation factors. The problem of the complex interrelationship between a Lithuanian and European identity is also examined, denying the myths of their inevitable contradiction.

¿Quién soy yo? Reflexiones teórico sistémicas acerca de la indentidad individual

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Francisco Xavier Morales
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Moral Communication ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

The problem of identity is an issue of contemporary society that is not only expressed in daily life concerns but also in discourses of politics and social movements. Nevertheless, the I and the needs of self-fulfillment usually are taken for granted. This paper offers thoughts regarding individual identity based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. From this perspective, identity is not observed as a thing or as a subject, but rather as a “selfillusion” of a system of consciousness, which differentiates itself from the world, event after event, in a contingent way. As concerns the definition  of contents of self-identity, the structures of social systems define who is a person, how he or she should act, and how much esteem he or she should receive. These structures are adopted by consciousness as its own identity structures; however, some social contexts are more relevant for self-identity construction than others. Moral communication increases the probability that structure appropriation takes place, since the emotional element of identity is linked to the esteem/misesteem received by the individual from the interactions in which he or she participates.

The European identity formation in Ukraine

2017 ◽  
pp. 102-109
Author(s):  
Larysa Kovryk-Tokar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
European Integration ◽  
European Community ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Political Integration ◽  
European Identity ◽  
European Values

Every nation is quite diverse in terms of his historical destiny, spiritual priorities, and cultural heritage. However, voluntary European integration, which is the final aim of political integration that began in the second half of the twentieth century from Western Europe, provided for an availability of large number of characteristics in common in political cultures of their societies. Therefore, Ukraine needs to find some common determinants that can create inextricable relationship between the European Community and Ukraine. Although Ukrainian culture is an intercultural weave of two East macrocivilizations, according to the author, Ukraine tends to Western-style society with its openness, democracy, tolerance, which constitute the basic values of Europeans. Keywords: Identity, collective identity, European values, European integration

In Search of a Standard: References to the Rule of Law in the Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights

ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Eszter Polgári
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
European Court ◽  
Structured Analysis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Grand Chamber

AbstractThe present article maps the explicit references to the rule of law in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR by examining the judgments of the Grand Chamber and the Plenary Court. On the basis of the structured analysis it seeks to identify the constitutive elements of the Court’s rule of law concept and contrast it with the author’s working definition and the position of other Council of Europe organs. The review of the case-law indicates that the Court primarily associates the rule of law with access to court, judicial safeguards, legality and democracy, and it follows a moderately thick definition of the concept including formal, procedural and some substantive elements. The rule of law references are predominantly ancillary arguments giving weight to other Convention-based considerations and it is not applied as a self-standing standard.

Migration, law, democracy: identifiyng where the risk is

2009 ◽  
pp. 139-150
Author(s):  
Javier de Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Sans Papiers ◽  
Migratory Movements ◽  
Migration Law

- This paper focuses on migration, law and democracy in order to identify where risk lies. The author concentrates on studying a recent case, the Directive on the Return of so-called illegal immigrants (sans papiers) approved by the European Parliament on 18 June 2008. The usual point of view, that of the dominant discourse, maintains that today's migratory movements constitute one of the structural factors that justify the definition of our societies as the "Risk Society". According to this point of view, the migratory flows entail a risk for social cohesion and even a destabilising potential for both democracy and the rule of law. The risk is illustrated by the menacing image of invasion threatening at our doors, hence the classical argument of the "demographic bomb" as the resource of poor countries. The author's thesis sustains that it is precisely our responses, in the form of migratory policy tools, that constitute a risk factor. Some of these tools, including this Directive, have become destabilising elements of the rules of the game and, moreover, of the values of the rule of law and of democracy.

scholarly journals A post-colonial legal approach to the Chagos case and the (dis)application of land rights norms

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kinnari Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractOne way of understanding the exile of the Chagos Islanders and their inability to return to their ancestral land is through a reading of the case from a perspective of post-colonial legal scholarship. Chagossians have strong legal rights to land and remedies of compensation and return through a purposive application of the international legal definition of Indigenous, Magna Carta right to abode and international human rights law that could address their dispossession. Yet, the inability of those rights to be meaningfully applied has been constrained because of the post-colonial way they are legally interpreted, creating a legal vacuum in which basic fairness and substantive equality have been routinely compromised. Drawing attention to the continued legal denial of return in the context of decolonisation, ongoing colonialism and the rule of law makes sense of the legal record and explains the expulsion of the islanders despite the moral merits of return.

scholarly journals An Approach of Legisprudence Theory to Assess the Quality of Local Regulation

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 371
Author(s):  
Marthen Arie
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Local Regulation ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Political Approach ◽  
Important Object

The applicable law (as a result of legislation) is not always a reflection of the society concerned. Local regulations in the area were impressed into law to be “forced” because it does not conform to the spirit and characteristics of the society. The formation of local regulation is increasingly complex and complicated when the process and its substance beside cannot be separated from the political process, it is also cannot be separated from social processes. The problematic of local regulation formation is indicated by the fact that the authorized institution to arrange the local regulation is still not sufficient to produce products of high quality local laws. Legisprudence theory may open new perspectives on the validity of norm or legitimacy of norm and by course using this approach the quality of local regulations will be more qualified. Although a political approach is more into the heart in the legislative process but legislation and regulation can be an important object. Legal theory is not only a basis on enforcement or implementation of the rule of law, but it is very useful theory in law-making.

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