In search of a “European identity”

Abstract

Discovering critical approaches to European legal studies is, to use Eisenhower's familiar adage, like trying to catch lightning in a bottle possible but it just never seems to happen. There are, of course, one or two notable exceptions, but it is fair to say that, to the extent that we in the UK encounter theoretical and critical approaches to Community law, it tends to be necessarily through the translation of continental writings.l Of course, the reason for this in substantial part is the notorious paucity of critical approaches in UK law as a whole. Again, there are exceptions, but relative to critical theory in North America or continental Europe, Dworkin's early criticism in 1977 that UK jurisprudence is characterised by its insularity and analytical obsession still holds true.2 In order to engage in a thoughtprovoking and critical approach to Europe and European legal studies, it is thus necessary to look beyond our own shores. The greatest tradition in critical philosophy, since Sartre appropriated Heidegger's engagement with Kant, is undoubtedly the French, and there are few more revered (and reviled?) figures in contemporary critical theory than Jacques Derrida.3 The publication of Derrida's influential essay, The Other Heading, first presented in 1990, thus provides us with a welcome opportunity not just to engage with the heart of one particularly intensive critical theory, but to do so as it engages with the politics of Europe. In the first part of this review, I want to explore Derrida's essay, and then in the second and third parts to explore the extent to which it demands very specific questions of any putative 'European legal studies.'