Research Question: To what extent do supranational organisations impact individual identity in the case of the European Union (EU)?
- Thesis
While EU citizens identify themselves as Europeans, they foremost identify with their national roots. However, all Europeans share an identifying economic, social and political congruency that helps create a sense of comradery that transcends borders.
- Historical Relevance
Dating back to Bohemia in the 20th century, the concept of the European identity has continually tormented historians. With the rise of supranational[1] organisations such as the EU, the question of European identity becomes increasingly more urgent. Historical events such as the Brexit vote of 2016, and possibility of Turkey joining the EU, have kept the question of European identity relevant, and an ongoing debate. For this reason, this project proves a key tool in evaluating theprogression of the EU from its creation to the present, and the tremendous impact it continues to have on individual lives.
- Methodology
In order to add an historical time frame to the question of European identity, this project will give a brief summary of the EU, beginning with the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. With this background explained, this project will then critically assess the concept of individual European identity. This will be accomplished by examining the case studies of two nations: Spain and Hungary.
Before delving into this analysis, the concept of ‘identity’ needs to be investigated. Historiography for years has been met with the challenge of producing an efficient way to measure identity. While this project does not claim to settle the methodological debate of how to measure identity, it does attempt to add to the conversation. In terms of this project, identity will be analysed through the change in political, economic, and social policies and assessing how these changes affected Europeans. This will be done by explaining how national policies were enforced prior to the EU and compare how policies were enforced after the creation of the EU. For example, when joining the EU, many countries forfeited their national sovereignty in terms of conforming to the laws of the newly created European Economic Community (EEC). This EEC created congruent economic, political, and legal policies, historically altering the future of Europe.
This project will then flesh out the concept of the “European identity” using two case studies: Spain and Hungary. The case study of Spain was chosen to represent the Mediterranean member states within the EU, holding a polar-opposite history to that of Eastern European members such as Hungary. Being part of Eastern Europe, Hungary has unique communist ties that set it apart historically from many EU member states, deeming it an interesting case study. First, Spain will be examined, explaining the shift in Spanish policies before the creation of the EU in 1992 and after the creation of the EU. Next, the same exercise will be done with Hungary. It should be noted that by choosing such distinct member states, this project will ground its conclusion on the extreme contrast between Spanish and Hungarian history. This is done to show the tremendous difference in policy changes within Spain and Hungary pre-EU and EU. By arguing from extremes, this project has the ability to clearly show how these policy changes altered the day-to-day lives of Spanish and Hungarian citizens. The divergences between the effect of EU policies within Spain and Hungary give rise to the conclusion that while member states are bound by shared policies, citizens chiefly consider themselves Spanish or Hungarian before European.
- Practical Considerations
Though measuring identity by critically assessing policy changes, is a supported and recommended practice by academics such as Antje Wiener and Thomas Dietz, there remains resistance to this method of analysis. It can be argued that policy changes merely generalise the impact on individual lives, and could overly marginalise the effects of certain policies. For example, most EU member states benefited from the creation of the Euro, creating a more stable economy for EU citizens. However, this statement is a generalisation, as some citizens may have felt constrained by this new currency rather than liberated. Therefore, this project acknowledges that some individuals’ opinions may be overlooked in the critical analysis.
Additionally, due to the constraints in word limit, this project will only look at two case studies. While this will provide in-depth examples, it will concurrently only use two member states to prop up its argument. Though this gives the reader a unique micro-history of two EU member states, it is notably an incomplete account of the full European identity.
Primary Sources:
- Maastricht Treaty
- Single European Act
- Treaty of Amsterdam
- Treaty of Nice
- Treaty of Rome
Secondary Sources:
Habermas, Jurgen, The Crisis of the European Union, (Cambridge, 2012).
Krastev, Ivan, After Europe, (Philadelphia, 2017).
Laurenson, Finn, Historical Dictionary European Union, (Plymouth, 2016).
Lindseth, Peter, Oxford Handbook of International Organisations, (Oxford, 2008).
Schweiger, Christian, and Visvizi, Anna, Central and Eastern Europe in the EU: challenges and perspectives under crisis conditions, (Oxford, 2005).
Wiener, Antje and Dietz, Thomas, European Integration Theory, (Oxford, 2004).
Williams, Alan, The European Community, (Oxford,
1991).
[1] ‘Supranational’, in terms of this project, will be defined as an organisation whose jurisdiction overrides national governments.