Building Europe. The cultural politics of European integration

Book abstract:

The development of the European Union has been one of the most profound advances in European politics and society this 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. In this book the author scrutinises 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, he 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. He 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 ordinary citizens.
The book is in two parts. Part I is entitled 'Inventing Europe', and chapters cover: Forging a European nation-state? The European Union and questions of culture; Creating the people's Europe: symbols, history and invented traditions; Citizenship of the Union: the cultural construction of a European citizen; Symbolising boundaries: the single currency and the art of European governance. Part II is entitled 'EU civil servants' and covers: A 'supranational' civil service? The role of the Commission in the integration process; The Brussels context: integration and engrenage among EU elites; Transnational, supranational or post-national? The organisational culture of the Commission; Conclusions: European construction, democracy and the politics of culture.
This critical anthropology of European integration will be of interest to anyone with an interest in the culture and politics of the EU.
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