The social construction of Europe

Book abstract:

This book aims to provide the first thorough and systematic look at European integration from a social constructivist perspective. Most of the chapters of the book are based on a conference on Constructivism and Research on European Integration sponsored by the Danish Social Science Research Council and organised at Femmøller Strand by the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The book includes new theoretical contributions to the debate and also has a revised and updated introduction and an entirely new chapter by Ernst B. Haas.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, Social Constructivism and Theorising European Integration, has chapters on Does Constructivism Subsume Neo-Functionalism; Understanding the European Union as a Federal Polity; Social Construction and European Integration. Part 2, Social Constructivist Perspectives in Studies of European Integration, has chapters on Postnational Constitutionalism in the European Union; Speaking 'Europe': The Politics of Integration Discourse; Constructing Europe? The Evolution of Nation-State Identities; Constructing Institutional Interests: EU and NATO Enlargement; Reconstructing a Common European Foreign Policy; Discourses of Globalization and European Identities. Part 3, Debating Approaches to European Integration, has chapters on Constructivism and European Integration: A Critique; Social Constructivisms and European Studies; The Social Construction of Social Constructivism.

The book is aimed at students and academics of International Relations, EU Politics and European Studies. The editors are academics in Politics or European Studies from universities in the UK and Denmark.