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Symbolism in European integration

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Comparative European Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

The role of symbolism in European integration provides one way of answering Craig Calhoun's 2003 call in Comparative European Politics for a means of transcending specific regimes of analysis in order to advance European studies. The article argues that our understanding of the integration process and the constitution of the European Union (EU) is furthered by broadly studying symbolic forms in a multiperspectival way. In contrast to much emphasis on heroic symbolic icons, the article studies more banal processes of symbolic construction that provide a deeper understanding of the symbolisation of European integration and enrich European studies more broadly. The article sets out how such processes could include the roles of physical icons such as maps or places, performative rituals such as days or museums, or discursive taboos such as mottos or texts. In this way the study of symbolism in European integration suggests a means of understanding how the EU becomes constituted as a political reality – how it is ‘always already there and still in formation’.

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Notes

  1. For a first attempt to go beyond the study of symbolic icons in this way see: Ian Manners (2005), Symbolism in European Integration.

  2. Although not post-structural in origin, socio-psychological work on the symbolism of the euro also shares much of this emphasis – see Meier-Pesti and Kirchler (2003); Jonas et al (2005).

  3. In contrast, for discussions of national memory and memorial see Rausch (2007); Simon (2008); and Mugge (2008).

  4. Interestingly, the earlier version of this description referred ‘the ideals of perfection, completeness and unity’ (see European Commission, 2005a), the change perhaps reflecting the post-Constitutional Treaty rethink of the symbols.

  5. It is worth noting that the most popular proposal for a flag for the Council of Europe (which was adopted by the EC in 1985) was Count Richard Coudenhove Kalergi's ‘Pan European Union’ flag featuring a yellow circle with a red cross on a blue background. This proposal was rejected because Turkish and British representatives commented that ‘no emblem of an institution of which Moslems are members may bear a cross’ (Caracciolo, 1952).

  6. The creation of the ‘European Quarter’ around Rue de la Loi and Rue Belliard is also an interesting example of symbolising an EU physical presence in Brussels – see Demey (2007).

  7. See details at: www.jean-monnet.net/ and www.centre-robert-schuman.org.

  8. See details at: www.expo-europe.be/ and European Parliament (2008).

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Ben Rosamond and three excellent reviewers, as well as Rebecca Adler-Nissen, Vivienne Boon, Chen Zhimin, Svend Aage Christensen, Antonin Cohen, Gerard Delanty, Martin van Gelderen, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Michael Herslund, Ulla Holm, Pertii Joenniemi, Niilo Kauppi, Catarina Kinnvall, Francesca Lacaita, Mikael Rask Madsen, Helle Malmvig, Fania Oz-Salzberger, Hans-Åke Persson, Rolf-Hagen Schulz-Forberg, Bo Stråth, Katri Vallaste and Peter Wagner for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.

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    Ian Manners

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Manners, I. Symbolism in European integration. Comp Eur Polit 9, 243–268 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2010.11

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