IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v54y2016i1p169-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

European Fantasies: On the EU's Political Myths and the Affective Potential of Utopian Imaginaries for European Identity

Author

Listed:
  • Christoffer Kølvraa

Abstract

The question of European identity today seems to be all the more pressing, as the current financial crisis is not only quickly developing into one of internal political cohesion for the Union, but has also certainly aggravated the long-standing problem of a lack of identification with the European political project among European populations. This article seeks to discuss this disenchantment with Europe through a concept of political myth. It argues that political myths entail both narrations of communal origins and utopian horizons of the communal future. Drawing on insights from Lacanian psychoanalysis, it connects the utopian dimension of myth to the level of affective investment in political communities, and suggests that the disenchantment with the European project might be partly due to the fact that its original utopian horizon – that of peace in Europe – today seems to have been achieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoffer Kølvraa, 2016. "European Fantasies: On the EU's Political Myths and the Affective Potential of Utopian Imaginaries for European Identity," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 169-184, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:169-184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jcms.12325
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Franz C. Mayer & Jan Palmowski, 2004. "European Identities and the EU – The Ties that Bind the Peoples of Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 573-598, September.
    2. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:67-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Helene Sjursen, 2002. "Why Expand?: The Question of Legitimacy and Justification in the EU’s Enlargement Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 491-513, September.
    4. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:46:y:2008:i::p:389-412 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Laura Cram, 2012. "Does the EU Need a Navel? Implicit and Explicit Identification with the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 71-86, January.
    7. Ian Manners & Richard Whitman, 2016. "Another Theory is Possible: Dissident Voices in Theorising Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 3-18, January.
    8. Vincent Della Sala, 2010. "Political Myth, Mythology and the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Ian Manners, 2010. "Global Europa: Mythology of the European Union in World Politics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 67-87, January.
    10. George Ross, 2008. "What do ‘Europeans’ Think? Analyses of the European Union's Current Crisis by European Elites," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 389-412, March.
    11. Daniela Obradovic, 1996. "Policy Legitimacy and the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 191-221, June.
    12. Neil Fligstein & Alina Polyakova & Wayne Sandholtz, 2012. "European Integration, Nationalism and European Identity," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(S1), pages 106-122, March.
    13. Brigid Laffan, 1996. "The Politics of Identity and Political Order in Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 81-102, March.
    14. Lene Hansen & Michael C. Williams, 1999. "The Myths of Europe: Legitimacy, Community and the ‘Crisis’ of the EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 233-249, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rachel Brooks, 2020. "Asserting the Nation: The Dominance of National Narratives in Policy Influencers’ Constructions of Higher Education Students," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(2), pages 273-288, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Soetkin Verhaegen & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2014. "European Identity and Support for European Integration: A Matter of Perceived Economic Benefits?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 295-314, May.
    2. Emmanuel Sigalas, 2009. "Does ERASMUS Student Mobility promote a EuropeanIdentity?," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0036, University of Hamburg, Faculty for Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science.
    3. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:1163-1184 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Sarah Ciaglia & Clemens Fuest & Friedrich Heinemann, 2018. "What a feeling?! How to promote ‘European Identity’," EconPol Policy Reports 9, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Joan Costa Font & Frank Cowell, 2015. "European Identity and Redistributive Preferences," CEP Discussion Papers dp1362, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Mehlika Özlem Ultan, 2016. "The Effect Of Cultural Factors On The European Integration," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 3605735, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    8. Stefan Auer, 2010. "‘New Europe’: Between Cosmopolitan Dreams and Nationalist Nightmares," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5), pages 1163-1184, November.
    9. Ian Manners & Philomena Murray, 2016. "The End of a Noble Narrative? European Integration Narratives after the Nobel Peace Prize," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 185-202, January.
    10. Sybille Luhmann, 2017. "A Multi-Level Approach to European Identity: Does Integration Foster Identity?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(6), pages 1360-1379, November.
    11. Mathias Dolls, 2019. "An Unemployment Re-Insurance Scheme for the Eurozone? Stabilizing and Redistributive Effects," EconPol Policy Reports 10, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    12. Gabriela Borz & Heinz Brandenburg & Carlos Mendez, 2022. "The impact of EU Cohesion Policy on European identity: A comparative analysis of EU regions," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 259-281, June.
    13. Annica Kronsell, 2016. "The Power of EU Masculinities: A Feminist Contribution to European Integration Theory," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 104-120, January.
    14. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:133-154 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Anastasiadou, Constantia & Pilcher, Nick & Gutu, Mavis & Panyik, Emese, 2023. "EU tourism and student identities in a pre-BREXIT UK," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Jolyon Howorth, 2010. "The EU as a Global Actor: Grand Strategy for a Global Grand Bargain?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 455-474, June.
    17. Élodie Béthoux & Roland Erne & Darragh Golden, 2018. "A Primordial Attachment to the Nation? French and Irish Workers and Trade Unions in Past EU Referendum Debates," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 656-678, September.
    18. Cengiz Erisen & Elif Erisen, 2014. "Attitudinal Ambivalence towards Turkey's EU Membership," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 217-233, March.
    19. Andrea Bonilla‐Bolaños, 2021. "A step further in the theory of regional integration: A look at the South American integration strategy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 845-873, July.
    20. Meike Froitzheim & Fredrik Söderbaum & Ian Taylor, 2011. "The Limits of the EU as a Peace and Security Actor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 46(3), pages 45-70.
    21. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Ioannis Chatziantoniou & David Gabauer, 2021. "The impact of Euro through time: Exchange rate dynamics under different regimes," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1375-1408, January.
    22. Odelia Oshri & Tamir Sheafer & Shaul R Shenhav, 2016. "A community of values: Democratic identity formation in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(1), pages 114-137, March.
    23. Kaija E. Schilde, 2014. "Who are the Europeans? European Identity Outside of European Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 650-667, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:169-184. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.