Cosmopolitan Europe: Border Crossings and Transnationalism in Europe

Abstract

In recent years European politics has witnessed two simultaneous developments, which are indicative of two contradictory trends. The first is an emphasis on the idea of a cosmopolitan Europe, as facilitated by further European integration. This accelerated integration is said to be creating a cosmopolitan Europe in which citizenship is decoupled from its national bearings and supra-national European institutions facilitate the emergence of new identities and belongings that are not necessarily national in origin. The second trend points towards an increasing visibility of right-wing parties and movements expressing hostility towards cultural multiplicity and an official denunciation of multiculturalism, accompanied by a closure of borders and denial of rights to non-European nationals. This article will argue that these seemingly contradictory trends are not necessarily contradictory but instead complimentary in erecting real and imaginary borders around Europe. The article further argues that growing transnational populations within Europe such as immigrants, refugees, non-residents and non-status individuals act as a corrective to this false perception of a cosmopolitan Europe by bringing the “outside in” and challenging the notions of European borders and established identities.