A Civic Studies perspective on European citizens: in search for potential in the conflict surrounding TTIP

Abstract

ABSTRACT‘Civic Studies’ is a nascent field of research coming from the US, which is widely unknown in European academia, however it is a promising approach for research on representation and citizenship in the crisis-ridden EUrope of today. That today’s EUrope is far from being free of conflict is a fact that repeatedly provokes an outcry for a stronger EUropean community to overcome the ‘EUropean crisis’. I approach this interconnectedness of community and conflict in a different way, stating that conflict in and about EUrope has the potential to create a community of active European citizens – a new collective that I call the ‘European Civics’. In my research project, this ‘European Civics’ is engaged in a EUropean conflict that has been of topical public interest in the last years: the Anti-TTIP-protests.