Fortress Europe or Pace-Setter? Identity and Values in an Integrating Europe
Fortress Europe or Pace-Setter? Identity and Values in an Integrating Europe

Summary/Abstract: The article represents a contribution to discussions about the basis, motives, and goals of European integration stimulated by the recent “normative turn” in EU studies. My aim is threefold: By addressing the issue of internal legitimacy in EU decision-making, I wish to show that the European Union is in need of a public “story” of European integration; however, a closer analysis suggests that there is much normative disagreement on the values and principles that are supposed to define such “Europeanness”. This is also relevant for Europe’s role within the scene of international or global politics, where the EU aspires to become a leading actor or is supposed to do so by cosmopolitan-minded authors. Lastly, the text defends the usefulness of the traditional conceptual apparatus of political theory, which has – in relation to European integration – in recent times come under attack.

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