Normative Power Europe: A Transdisciplinary Approach to European Studies

Abstract

As this book illustrates, the field of European studies is constituted by the need to constantly rethink how best to study contemporary Europe and the transformations which characterize it. European studies is, as Craig Calhoun neatly surmised, ‘always already there and still in formation’ (Calhoun, 2003a; see also Lindstrom, 2002; Manners, 2003; Rumford and Murray, 2003a, 2003b; Wallace, 2000; Warleigh, 2004). From my per spective, the field of European studies has been one largely defined by three analytical features. First, it primarily consists of multidisciplinary perspectives on Europe, including language and literature, history, politics, economics, law, geography, sociology, cultural studies, and more (for examples, see Sakwa and Stevens, 2000, or Gowland et al., 2006). Second, the field consists of interdisciplinary foci on Europe as a place, space, and idea (for examples, see Kofman et al., 2000; or Griffin and Braidotti, 2002). And finally a relative absence of transdisciplinary methods for examining Europe (for exceptions, see Passerini, 1998, or Guisan, 2003). While a discipline can be a community of expertise which considers itself a comparatively self-contained, teachable and knowable domain; ‘multidisciplinary study involves employing two or more disciplines, in juxtaposition’ (Ellis, 2003). In this respect, multi disciplinary research involves scholars working in a fairly ‘self-contained manner’ while coming together to work on a shared problem (Denemark, 1999: 53; Lawrence and Depres, 2004: 400). In contrast, interdisciplinary study goes beyond (multi) disciplinary comparison towards a more interactive and integrative approach between different disciplines. Transdisciplinary scholarship is even more demanding, involving research and study around ‘complex heterogeneous domains’ in order to address complex phenomena (Denemark, 1999: 53; Lawrence and Depres, 2004: 400). But whereas multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary work involves comparison of many perspectives, or cooperation between differing perspectives, transdisciplinary research is like standing on one’s head – the 31