One narrative or several? Politics, cultural elites, and citizens in constructing a ‘New Narrative for Europe’

Kaiser, Wolfram

doi:10.1080/14608944.2016.1265491

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Some journalists still expressed surprise in 2015 to see political debates publicly framed as a competition between narratives (Leibovich 2015). The European Commission's first important foray into consciously exploiting the concept of narrative, the 'New Narrative for Europe' project of 2013-14, particularly stimulated scholarly interest in narratives of European integration (Kaiser 2017;Bouza García 2017;Manners and Murray 2016, 190-91).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Ju-jitsu: counter-narratives to European union

McMahon

Kaiser

2021

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

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Recent scholarship has increasingly recognised the crucial role of political narratives in and for European integration. Since its earliest days, supporters have justified integration by telling stories about its beneficial contribution to peace, prosperity, and democracy. In this article and the special issue, we contribute to the burgeoning literature on (counter) narratives to European 'union' (any integration beyond intergovernmental cooperation), and to work on Euroscepticism. The special issue is also at the cutting edge of narratives research in its conceptual innovation and its focus on the narrating actors and concrete instances of narration. We demonstrate that in a narrative ju-jitsu, opponents of European union take up the themes of key pro-integration narratives and return their force against the EU. As well as examining nationalist Euroscepticism in specific countries, we study how cooperation among nationalists across Europe and beyond encourages convergence of their counter-narratives. These counter-narratives do not merely reject European union but increasingly argue for an alternative kind of 'Europe'. They therefore interact with the increasing competition among proliferating pro-integration narratives, which have formed as old stories such as that of Europe as peacebringer seem to have become less convincing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Ju-jitsu: counter-narratives to European union

McMahon

Kaiser

2021

Journal of Contemporary European Studies

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“…Like the Political Cooperation theme, although Early EU Cooperation is narrated in textbooks of all countries, it is given clearly more space in the textbooks of "Western" countries. This foundation story of the European unification process is portrayed as a success that can be used as a tool to legitimate the EU as a political actor (see also Kaiser, 2017). In terms it appears as a moral charter that confers legitimacy and allows member states to see themselves in a positive light.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The European Commission and the European Parliament have since established several initiatives to promote awareness of European identity and legitimize the EU's institutions. For example, in 2013 and 2014, the EU Commission and Parliament worked together on a project called the "A New Narrative for Europe" to resolve recurring discussions of the EU's political legitimacy following the 2008 financial crisis (Kaiser, 2015(Kaiser, , 2017. In 2013, the European Commission and European Parliament initiated "active European remembrance" as a joint endowment to sponsor projects stressing the memory of Europe's totalitarian past (Berger & Tekin, 2018).…”

Section: The European Unification Process As a Lived Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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European unification as lived memory: Shared and diverse representations in textbooks of six countries

Sakki

Hakoköngäs

Brescó

et al. 2020

Asian J of Social Psycho

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Concerned about a lack of legitimacy, European Union (EU) institutions have increasingly engaged in memory politics to enhance European identity. Yet, memory of the EU is still closely connected to the collective identity formation of nation-states, especially in the field of education, the focus of this study. Inspired by this dilemma, the present paper examines the representations of European unification in textbooks of six countries: Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, and Estonia. By focusing on countries on the margins of Europe, the present study explores shared and diverse narratives of the European unification process and asks whether or not a shared historical charter of European unification exists. All together 86 history textbooks used in upper secondary school were analysed by adopting a threestep multi-method approach. The results suggest that the representation of European unification is more diverse than it is homogenous. It can be narrated as a political value community or as a community based on utilitarian interests, or it can be represented from a unified European or from a more national perspective. Exploring representations of European unification is crucial to understanding how they can be used as legitimizing charters to navigate through the European challenges of the 21st century.

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“…La huella de Habermas en las posiciones de Loth parece evidente. 4 Kaiser (2009): 12-13. 5 Rougemont (1948); Brugmans (1965); Voyenne (1964), y Friedrich (1969).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Europeísmo(s) en la posguerra: la opción británica por la cooperación intergubernamental

Castro

Fernández

2020

Hist. Polít. Ideas, Procesos Mov. Soc.

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Europeísmo o europeísmos no es un falso dilema. El relato canónico de un proceso de integración europea diseñado por Monnet y desarrollado por las Comunidades está definitivamente cuestionado. Hay y hubo otras alternativas que no deben encajonarse bajo el epígrafe de euroescepticismo. La cooperación intergubernamental defendida por Gran Bretaña tuvo y tiene más recorrido del que se le ha querido reconocer aunque por diversas razones no logró liderar el proceso de integración, en el que, por otra parte, nunca creyó. La Unión Occidental, patrocinada por los laboristas, y el Consejo de Europa, inspirado por Churchill, merecen una revisión histórica que este trabajo quiere, modestamente, contribuir a realizar

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One narrative or several? Politics, cultural elites, and citizens in constructing a ‘New Narrative for Europe’

Cited by 26 publications

References 21 publications

Narrative Ju-jitsu: counter-narratives to European union

Narrative Ju-jitsu: counter-narratives to European union

European unification as lived memory: Shared and diverse representations in textbooks of six countries

Europeísmo(s) en la posguerra: la opción británica por la cooperación intergubernamental

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