Identités, communautés et espaces publics en Europe

The course analyses the building of the EU as a political community and a political order, with an emphasis on communicative, identity, cultural and memory dimensions. Among other issues are: European political roles as incarnations and representations of Europe; interaction between elites and masses at the European level; different levels of identification to Europe; symbolic European policies; the reference to the past and the potentiality for a European memory

European studies have for long focused on the analysis of structures and processes and taken as granted the sui generis dimension and the exceptionalism of the EU. Recently, a "identity-turn" in international litterature suggests that the EU is now a mature polity which can not be understood only as an interest-driven political project but needs to be tackled as a whole political system. The purpose is to understand to which extent and how European societies relate to supranational and transnational politics and how Europeanization reframes belongings, collective representations and values.

In 2012-2013, the course POLI-D-436 is turned into a seminar supported by a new Jean Monnet Chair granted by the European Commission on the project "Social and cultural dimensions of European integration » (SocEUR, 2012-2015). Each session will host a guest specialized in relevant issues and with an active research agenda. The students will have the opportunity to be in touch with up-to-date scientific debates and to interact with international scholars. They are encouraged to take full advantage of this configuration. Questions and discussion are most welcome!

!! Contrary to what is indicated above, sessions are held in English !!

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

• Bartolini S., Restructuring Europe. Centre formation, system building and political structuring between the nation state and the European Union, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005. - Cerutti F., Lucarelli S. (eds.), The Search for A European Identity. Values, policies and legitimacy of the European Union, London, Routledge, 2008. - Checkel J., Katzenstein P. (eds.), European Identity, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009. - Diez Medrano J., Framing Europe. Attitudes to European Integration in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2003 - Foret F., Légitimer l’Europe. Pouvoir et symbolique à l’ère de la gouvernance, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, 2008 - Foret F. (dir.), L’espace public européen à l’épreuve du religieux, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2007 - Shore C., Building Europe. The Cultural Politics of European Integration, London, Routledge, 2000 - Risse T., A Community of Europeans?, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010

Method(s) of evaluation

• written examination

written examination

Written exam