Over the last decade, Europe has been the scene of an increased and generalized sense of ‘Euroscepticism’, expressed through a growing feeling of rejection towards the European Union, its institutions and values. This phenomenon has further resulted in a questioning of the EU’s legitimacy, with an emerging opposition to the principle of supranational governance executed by the EU observed across the Union. While this reveals an issue of general identification with the EU and the European project among individuals, the European Union has sought to respond to this through specific means, particularly through the approach of shaping a greater sense of European identity for and among ‘Europeans’. This has been going through the European Commission’s financial contribution, and the Council of Europe’s establishment of a wide range of organisms, programs, or projects working to establish this identity through multiple aspects, for instance through cultural and legal aspects, as well as to increase identification with this sense of identity. This research seeks at conducting a close study of specific programs created or funded by the EU, and establishing this sense of European identity. Our findings suggest that the shaping of a sense of European identity has remained a challenge despite the institutions’ efforts in that sense, as the concept of European identity still represents an unclear, blurred concept for many people. Moreover, the outcomes of this research have highlighted the issues behind the process of identity-shaping in the case of European identity, that is the persisting lack of identification with this identity, as well as the shaping of an exclusivist identity, rather than an inclusive identity promoting integration and inclusion for all individuals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-428901 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Hemmert, Guillaume |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, University of Strasbourg |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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