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European Identity - Some Principal Issues

Srđan Vrcan

Sažetak

The essay begins by asking questions about the reasons for the current search for cultural identity of Europe when compared to the conclusions reached at Barcelona conference in mid-nineties that the cultural identity of Europeis to be found in the fact that Europe has no cultural identity but it is an open pluralistic cultural space. At the same time it is pointed out that there is an evident ambivalence in the current search for the cultural identity of Europe expressed in the confusion among the search of “the soul of Europe”, the search for “the soul for Europe” and the search for the soul that “ought to be given to Europe”. This ambivalence is stressed further if one takes into consideration Ralf Dahrendorf's thesis that “there is no European demos”, but that there are two distinct European traditions which both are very relevant for a search for the cultural identity of Europe. The first one is the tradition of the Right and it needs enemies; the other is the tradition of the Left and it needs utopia. It is the descrption of the problematic background upon which some crucial questions are formulated and dealt with. The first question rises the problem of similarity or dissimilarity between the European cultural identity to be searched for and the typical national or ethnic identity or between the searched for and welcome “soul of Europe” as Europa Geist and traditional national soul as Volksgeist. Second question opens the problem of the content of the European cultural identity if the contemporary world has becoming more and more a dis-entchanted and dis-entchanting world or if that world is undergoing an overall process of re-entchantment and is becoming an again entchanted world. Third question is the question what kind of European politics needs what kind of European cultural identity? The European politics for “Europe as a fortress”, for “Europe as Christian club”, for “Europe with a humane vocation”, or for “Europe as an open project” etc.? Fourth question considers the chances for an affirmation of European cultural identity facing unavoidable globalisation processes leading to demotion both of the Nation-State and the Welfare-State with the consequent undermining of their traditional ways of constructing consensus as well as of obtaining legitimacy and more particularly if globalisation does result in wiping out the traditional meaning of democracy under the presumed pressure of the factual constraints (Sachzwang) and the analogous rationality (Sachzwangverstand). The essay tries to explore in more detailed way such a set of topics and ends with the conclusion of the problematic nature of current effort to turn EU by the way of construction of an European cultural identity into a kind of cultural community, but basically for political purposes.

Ključne riječi

CULTURE; POLITICS; IDENTITY; VARIANTS OF EUROPE; EUROPE “AS A FORTRESS”; EUROPE “AS A CHRISTIAN CLUB”; EUROPE AS “ENTITY WITH A HUMANE MISSION”; EUROPE AS “AN OPEN PROJECT”; IDENTITY; EUROPEAN IDENTITY; TRADITIONAL AND POST-TRADITIONAL IDENTITY; IDENTITY

Hrčak ID:

13680

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/13680

Datum izdavanja:

30.6.2005.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 5.227 *