European Representation Research Articles

Von der nationalen zur europäischen Identität? Potential und Problematik von Europakarten auf Briefmarken

In view of the fact that national maps were circulated in the 19th and early 20th century to strengthen people’s national consciousness, this article inquires whether the six EC founding states have in turn been using maps of Europe or the territory encompassed by the EC members since the 1950s in order to promote a sense of supranational community among the citizenry. Postage stamps, mass-produced by the national postal administrations, serve as the source material for this investigation. The analysis, however, reveals that the four largest countries initially made little use of cartographic representations of Europe. Only in the course of the eastward enlargement of the EU did European maps begin to appear frequently on stamps. One explanation for this surprising finding is the fact that the European unification process aimed at territorial expansion right from the start, but that maps have the contrary effect of implying that borders are fixed. It was therefore only when the European division was overcome that European maps were increasingly used to represent the continent as a closed space.

Chernobyl, Responsibility and National Identity: Positioning Europe and Russia in the Media of Belarus and Ukraine (1992–2014)

This article compares media representations of how Europe and Russia handled the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Belarus and Ukraine in the period 1992–2014. It shows that the official and alternative media in Belarus featured competing representations of Europe and Russia that were linked to the national narratives of the Belarusian authorities and opposition, while the official and alternative media in Ukraine carried congruent representations of Europe and Russia that were not linked to the competing national narratives of the political actors. It is further argued that while the media in Belarus constructed its national identity as present-oriented, the media of Ukraine presented its national identity as past-centred.

A Tale of Two Orthodoxies: Europe in Religious Discourses of Russia and Georgia

The article seeks to analyze discourses of two Orthodox Churches—Georgian (GOC) and Russian (ROC)—from the vantage point of their various interconnections with Europe and the ensuing representations of Europe framed in religious terms. Of particular salience are relations between ROC and GOC, on the one hand, and the Roman Catholic Church, on the other, as well as the positioning of both ROC and GOC within the global community of Orthodox Churches. The analyzed political circumstances force religious hierarchs of both institutions, even if they share the similar ambivalence toward the West, to differently reproduce the image of Europe. The broader geopolitical picture puts the GOC in the position of supporting government’s foreign policy agenda which goes in opposition to the Kremlin, in spite of the fact that the former has a lot of common with the Moscow Patriarchate when it comes to criticism toward the Western liberal value systems.

Constructions of Europe in the run-up to the EU referendum in the UK

ABSTRACTThe paper reports findings from a focus group study on representations of Europe, conducted in England in the run-up to the UK EU referendum. Four themes were identified in the analysis: ‘cultured Europe’; ‘little Europe/global Britain’; ‘Europe as a cultural threat’; and ‘Eastern vs. Western Europe’. Analysis of these themes showed that Europe was an ambivalent identity category that could encapsulate contrary ideas such as cosmopolitanism/isolationism and cultural enrichment/undermining. Europe’s relation to Britain was also ambivalent in the data. Britain could be positioned as superior to Europe, sometimes being seen as closer to the ‘European essence’ in the context of the EU’s eastward expansion, which was seen as diluting European culture. But, Britain could also be seen as backward compared to the idea of cosmopolitan continental Europe. These different lines of argument and their ideological underpinnings are explored in the discussion of the findings.

Everyday Cosmopolitanism in Representations of Europe among Young Romanians in Britain

The article presents an analysis of everyday cosmopolitanism in constructions of Europe among young Romanian nationals living in Britain. Adopting a social representations approach, cosmopolitanism is understood as a cultural symbolic resource that is part of everyday knowledge. Through a discursively oriented analysis of focus group data, we explore the ways in which notions of cosmopolitanism intersect with images of Europeanness in the accounts of participants. We show that, for our participants, representations of Europe are anchored in an Orientalist schema of West-vs.-East, whereby the West is seen as epitomising European values of modernity and progress, while the East is seen as backward and traditional. Our findings further show that representations of cosmopolitanism reinforce this East/West dichotomy, within a discourse of ‘Occidental cosmopolitanism’. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the diverse and complex ideological foundations of these constructions of European cosmopolitanism and their implications.

Will Trade Unions Survive in the Platform Economy? Emerging Patterns of Platform Workerss Collective Voice and Representation in Europe

Via a non-exhaustive mapping of various examples in Western European countries, this Working Paper explores to what extent the collective representation and voice of digital platform workers are being shaped by current dynamics in the platform economy. The argument is developed that currently emerging patterns hint at a possible co-existence or combinations of mainstream trade unions and other unions and union-like organisations defending platform workers’ needs and interests. Patterns in representation forms reveal a demarcation between the logic of membership and the logic of influence. Though not new, this demarcation has become more exposed, prevalent and salient since the platform economy, also in highly institutionalised labour markets. The Working Paper also emphasises that any meaningful analysis of the representation and voice of platform workers should consider the diversity of platforms and the associated variance in the power resources of platform workers.

Journalistic practices in the representation of Europe’s 2014–2016 migrant and refugee crisis

Abstract Since its surge in 2014, the migrant and refugee crisis has been a major issue for the European community, not only impacting the geopolitical, economic, societal and humanitarian sectors but also challenging media practices, narratives and framings. This special issue investigates journalistic routines, norms and representations of migrants and refugees in western mainstream and digital media by questioning innovations in journalistic practices. Drawing on a wide range of case studies and various methodological approaches, the contributions in this issue, both from scholars and practitioners, analyse different journalistic ecosystems and visual narratives. Have stereotypical portrayals of migrants and refugees from previous episodes of massive displacement been challenged? How were the visual politics of migration shaped by a humanization discourse? To what extent did editorial choices and newswork routines adapt to this type of crisis reporting? How have media narratives shifted through several western contexts to engage audiences into this human tragedy? In the end, this issue aims at exploring a variety of dynamic approaches related to the media perspective on representations of migration and refugee studies, in the light of new potentials offered by storytelling and immersive forms of journalism.

Party competition and political representation in crisis

The aim of the special issue is to investigate through a comparative lens the impact of the recent economic crisis and consequent austerity measures on party competition and political representation in Europe. All six contributions focus on the substance of political conflict and provide new insights about the impact of the crisis on (a) the policy agendas of political parties, (b) the relationship between government and opposition parties, and (c) how citizens’ preferences are represented by political parties. Theoretically, the contributions link the literatures on party competition, responsiveness, agenda-setting, and social movements. Empirically, they provide new empirical material, in particular on the countries in Southern Europe which were hard hit by the crisis. The introduction presents the rationale of the special issue and summarizes the focus and findings of the six contributions.

The intricate question of European democracy: national parliamentary debates on the European Elections Act of 1976

JEIH Journal of European Integration History , Seite 115 - 142

Cómo se construye una imagen estereotipada de Europa, Asia y nuestro país en los libros de texto de España y Japón

El presente trabajo trata de un estudio comparativo entre libros de texto de España y Japón. Se examina, a través del análisis del discurso, cómo los libros de texto de Ciencias Sociales construyen estereotipos en la representación de Europa y Asia, así como sus posibles influencias en las imágenes del propio país, España y Japón. Hemos analizado los términos “Europa” y “Asia” desde cuatro perspectivas diferentes. Los resultados demuestran que, además de algunas estrategias discursivas, la idea subyacente del etnocentrismo occidental desempeña un papel importante en la construcción de imágenes estereotípicas de Europa y de Asia y de nuestro país.

Foreign policy and identity change: Analysing perceptions of Europe among the Turkish public

Foreign policy is a key area through which state officials’ role in the discursive construction of a state’s identity becomes possible and visible. From this viewpoint, Turkey presents an interesting case worthy of analysis due to the significant transformation of its foreign policies in the recent decades. This article first reviews the current literature, which points out that the shift in Turkish foreign policy and the souring of Turkey–European Union (EU) relations in the second half of the 2000s not only entailed a policy change but also a change in the crafted identity of the state at the elite level as distanced from Europe. This article then aims to undercover whether this crafted identity at the elite level is also visible across the changing perceptions of Europe among the Turkish public. Hence, it seeks to observe the ways in which public discourse does or does not follow elite discourse on representations of Europe, and, in turn, engages with the conceptual question of whether public constructions of state identity simply follow elite constructions. This is done through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of texts produced by focus group interviews.

Mind the Gap! Populism, Participation and Representation in Europe

AbstractThis article assesses the influence of populist parties on two central aspects of democracy – participation and representation. In line with traditional theories on populism and democracy, we argue that populist parties have a positive effect on electoral turnout and the equality of participation. This effect, however, is moderated by the party's role in government or opposition as well as their host‐ideology, i.e. left, centre or right. We argue that populist parties also have a positive effect on substantive representation, but that this effect is strongly dependent on their host‐ideology. We test these arguments with lagged dependent variable models using data from 31 European countries from 1990 until 2014. We find mixed support for our theoretical expectations.

‘Europe in your Pocket’: narratives of identity in euro iconography

European institutions have long been concerned with how citizens perceive them and how this is connected to shifting notions of Europe and collective identities. This article contributes to the analysis of EU narratives as revealed by the design of the euro banknotes, their intended institutional meaning and the debate they raised. The seven denominations’ main images are bridges and doors, inspired by European architectural styles, but representing abstract symbols and not actual landmarks. In the public debate, this has attracted more criticism than praise; scholars, too, have generally been dismissive. In this article, I aim to provide an interpretation of how currency iconography becomes the medium of both accepted and occasionally contested narratives of identity. First I consider how the euro was designed and officially promoted; then I advance a critique of the main interpretations, as an indicator of accepted (or unacceptable) representations of Europe. Available narratives will finally be rethought through an analysis of the significance of the bridge and the door as cultural symbols, following Georg Simmel’s essay on the subject. The significance of this will emerge in relation to the wider relevance of architectural metaphors of Europe as tropes in narratives of European identity.

The politics of genocide recognition: Kurdish nation-building and commemoration in the post-Saddam era

ABSTRACTThis article explores genocide recognition politics (GRP) with a specific focus on Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign (1988) against the Kurdish population in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the context of a pending referendum on independence in the KRI, this study investigates the evolution of GRP in relation to secession, nation-building and commemoration as well as the social, political and economic drivers in the process. In addition, the study zeroes in on the internationalization of genocide recognition claims via diaspora lobbying and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq (KRG)’s bureaux of representation in Europe. The results are based on extensive fieldwork conducted with KRG representatives, diaspora entrepreneurs and other stakeholders between 2012 and 2016 in Europe and Iraqi Kurdistan. The KRG’s genocide recognition claims are not explicitly associated with secession, but instead are employed to legitimize local rule by referencing collective trauma and shared victimhood. In this way, Anfal – as the ‘chosen trauma’ – has become a component of (local) nation-building mechanisms. Nevertheless, recognition claims can become instrumentalized for secession so long as the political circumstances in the region become favourable to Kurdish independence. In the diaspora context, GRP serve to establish a link to homeland through commemoration practices, but they also provide greater space for lobbying and transnational advocacy networking.

Russia’s Return as True Europe, 1991-2017

Since the reign of Peter the Great, Russia has identified itself in opposition to Europe. In the late 1980s, Michael Gorbachev and associates forged a liberal representation of Europe and initiated a Western-oriented foreign policy. Against this westernizing or liberal representation of Europe stood what was at first a makeshift group of old Communists and right-wing nationalists, who put forward an alternative representation that began to congeal around the idea that the quintessentially Russian trait was to have a strong state. This article traces how this latter position consolidated into a full-fledged xenophobic nationalist representation of Europe, which marginalized first other forms of nationalism and then, particularly since 2013, liberal representations of Europe. The official Russian stance is now that Russia itself is True Europe, a conservative great power that guards Europe’s true Christian heritage against the False Europe of decadence and depravity to its west.

La representación de los europeos: sobre las posibilidades y límites de la parlamentarización de la Unión Europea

<p>La Unión Europea constituye un espacio especialmente denso desde el punto de vista parlamentario y de una gran complejidad en relación con su naturaleza representativa. Para hacer frente a la desparlamentarización de sus instituciones se han propuesto dos estrategias cuyos alcances se analizan aquí: la implicación de los Parlamentos nacionales en la gobernanza europea y el fortalecimiento del Parlamento Europeo. En este artículo se examinan críticamente ambas propuestas. Para mejorar la representación en Europa se propone indagar las posibilidades de innovación representativa que permite una entidad política tan peculiar.</p><p><strong>Recibido</strong>: 15 noviembre 2016<strong><br /></strong><strong>Aceptado</strong>: 08 febrero 2017<br /><strong>Publicación en línea</strong>: 02 mayo 2017</p>

Where no European has gone before: Representations of Europe(an integration) in science fiction

This article is meant to begin an investigation into the role of Europe and European integration in science fiction. After a brief discussion of methodology, it reviews a number of key novels, films and bandes dessinées of science fiction and analyses their references to Europe and European integration. The references are placed into four categories: surveillance state, conspiracy theories, environmental disasters, and space exploration. References to European integration in this genre are rare and in the case of the first three categories they are dystopian. While this can partially be attributed to a general tendency within the genre towards dystopian storytelling, it is argued that the prevalence of dystopia can also be explained with reference to moral disorientation. A notable exception is made by references to European integration in space-based science fiction, where European integration is seen as contributing towards global collaboration. This representation of European integration provides an alternative outlook on the EU as a vision of global collaboration. Science fiction is arguably not only an important method to popularise space exploration, but also a method to rekindle the European project.

IndustriAll European trade union: Over 20 years of working with European Works Councils

industriAll Europe, and its predecessor European Trade Union Federations in the manufacturing, mining and energy sectors, has played a key role in the formation and development of European Works Councils (EWCs) since the inception of pioneer transnational information and consultation bodies in the 1990s. Some 560 EWCs now operate under its remit, accounting for half the total currently functioning. To date, only fragmentary accounts exist of its over 20 years of practical and political experience in assisting EWCs. This article thus provides a unique insight. We examine the demographics of these EWCs and discuss how industriAll Europe handles European worker representation, provide a critical assessment of the Recast EWC Directive and outline the broad range of instruments and policies developed over time to guide and support EWCs in industrial sectors.

40/30 (years) of Constitution and Integration: The national and European representation crisis

This article critically approaches some issues of legal and political nature, necessarily controversial, raised by the Portuguese accession to the EU and the own political action of the Union, with the purpose to draw attention to the aspects that seem to be the most relevant in the 40/30 years milestone of the Constitution and the European integration. Amongst these issues I point out the followings: 1) perception and way of receiving the European integration by the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, 2) degradation of the democratic principle and of the political representation due to the intervention of the EU in the member states politics or the effect of empting the internal politics caused by the action of the EU, 3) globalisation, neoliberalism and the crisis of the democratic power: producing the effect of moving the locus of the democratic powerand the erosion in the relations of the EU with the member states, 4) the EU as a space of action of the market against people. I intend, then, to provoke the debate on these relevant problems of the EU integration.

The Radical Right as Niche Parties? The Ideological Landscape of Party Systems in Western Europe, 1980–2014

The emergence of the radical right as a strong competitor to mainstream parties has fundamentally reshaped patterns of competition in many European party systems. In this article, we systematically explore changes to the ideological landscape in Western Europe by examining whether there has been programmatic mainstreaming of radical right parties due to (a) accommodation to and (b) moderation by radical right parties. We examine positions and salience on liberal-authoritarianism and the salience of economic issues using manifesto data from 68 parties in 17 countries. Our findings provide empirical support for a rightward shift in European party systems: on liberal-authoritarianism, mainstream left and right parties have increased their emphasis and moved to the right. Yet radical right parties have generally remained niche competitors; they are increasingly extreme and more focused on liberal-authoritarianism. Our analysis has important implications for understanding party systems, party competition and citizen representation in Europe.