Political symbolism and European integration

Abstract:

This work considers the various attempts to stimulate interest in European integration among the citizens of the EU’s Member States by promotion of the European flag and involvement in culture, education and audio-visual policy.

The book is organised over six chapters. Chapter one establishes the key elements of the study: political symbols, political symbolism, symbolic power and their relationship to communal identities, political legitimacy and institutional ‘entity processes’. Chapter two explores the role played by political symbolism in state- and nation-building. Chapter three explores the faltering steps of the Community and the Commission to improve popular support for the Union. Audio-visual policy is the focus of chapter four which traces the disillusionment of the Commission in its efforts to establish the ‘European culture’. Chapter five examines educational policy, in particular the attempts to introduce a ‘European dimension’ into the school curricula of Member States, with the limited outcome of various educational exchanges and language learning schemes. The final chapter considers the wider importance of the failure of the Union in the area of political symbolism and the restraints encountered as Member States determination to protect their own educational and cultural prerogatives.

The work will interest scholars, students and researchers engaged in European integration and all those with concerns over identity, legitimacy and popular consent in the European Union.

Tobias Theiler is Lecturer in the Department of Politics at University College Dublin.