Building Europe: The Cultural Politics of European Integration

ISBN-13: 9780415180146 / Angielski / Twarda / 2000 / 270 str.

Chris Shore

Opis

The development of the European Union has been one of the most profound advances in European politics and society in the 20th century. Yet the institutions of Europe and the Eurocrats who work in them have constantly attracted negative publicity, culminating in the mass resignation of the European Commissioners in March 1999. This study scrutinizes the process of European integration using the techniques of anthropology, and drawing on thought from across the social sciences. Using the findings of numerous interviews with EU employees, it reveals that there is not just a subculture of corruption within the institutions of Europe, but that their problems are largely a result of the way the EU itself is constituted and run. It argues that European integration has largely failed in bringing about anything but an ever-closer integration of the technical, political and financial elites of Europe - at the expense of its ordinary citizens.

Recenzje

'An invaluable academic work ... For anyone interested in the hidden story behind the drive to create a new kind of state in Europe, Shore's Building Europe is an eyeopener.' - Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph

'Cris Shore has written a quite outstanding book...Essential reading' - Will Podmore

Spis treści

Introduction Part One: Inventing Europe 1. Forging a European Nation-State? The European Union and Questions of Culture 2. Creating the People's Europe: Symbols, History and Invented Traditions 3. Citizenship of the Union. The Cultural Construction of a European Citizen 4. Symbolizing Boundaries: The Single Currency and the Art of European Governance Part Two: EU Civil Servants. The New Europeans? 5. A Supranational Civil Service? The Role of the Commission in the Integration Process 6. The Brussels Context. Integration and Engrenage among EU Elites 7. Transnational, Supranational or Post-National? The Organisational Culture of the Commission Conclusions

O autorze

Cris Shore is Head of the Anthropology Department at Goldsmith's College, University of London. He has published and lectured extensively on European integration and EU cultural politics.