„Europäische Identität“ – Ist das Thema abschiedsreif? Oder nötigen die Krisen zu einem neuen Begriffsverständnis?

Even though the topic of European identity was intensively discussed following the Treaty of Maastricht, it hardly receives attention today. That is not without reason. The European Union faces not just a number of crises, but it is threatened by disintegration or decline. The multifaceted attempts to define community building forces - along historical, cultural and philosophical lines, inspired by constitutional law, or conceptualised along national identity or some other way conceived or devised - may appear ivory-tower. In contrast to such attempts, the author proposes a concept of identity which focuses on political problems. It is based on early classics of pol­it­ical philosophy thus avoiding the danger of concentrating too much on fashionable approaches.