IMPERIUM, STAATSSCHIFF, PILGERSCHAFT. ALTERNATIVE METAPHERN ZUR EUROPÄISCHEN LEITBILDDEBATTE
"EMPIRE, THE SHIP OF STATE, AND PILGRIMAGE. ALTERNATIVE METAPHORS FOR THE 'LEITBILD' DEBATE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION"

Summary/Abstract: European Governance is an important approach to the study of European Integration and the European Union. However, it falls short of offering a sound metaphor that gives the new polity a name for its political order. The approach is well suited for analyzing the European Union's political system, but it cannot describe the political community in the way that the term 'nation states' describes the member states. An ongoing debate discusses terms like 'empire' to offer an alternative description. The paper enters this debate by criticizing these metaphors and offering the figure of pilgrimage instead. The contribution is embedded in the debate of social science and cultural science approaches in European studies and the question of legitimacy and identity. Methodologically the paper draws heavily from Aleida Assmann's concept of memory and Habermas' concept of a postsecular society which is used to recall historical and religious terms to bring about new ways of offering meaning to the developing political community of Europeans.

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