Normative Discussions on European Identity: A Puzzle for Social Science?

Abstract

This review article addresses the conceptual standpoints of the three major normative approaches concerning what the European identity ought to be. Despite different understanding of the final shape of the European identity, the common denominator of the analysed approaches is to move from a priori axioms linking identity to integration. As a consequence, normative perspectives are often criticized for being trapped in philosophical justification of desirable conceptions of identity and to ignore dynamics on the floor. To rescue normative approaches from these criticisms, a re-conceptualization of the normative theory in social science would be needed. This article concludes remarking the implication of such a re-definition of normative debates.