Anchoring Europe’s civilizing identity: habits, capabilities and ontological security

Abstract:

What effects might the deepening CFSP have on the EU's identity as a civilian and civilizing power? While greater military capabilities might seem to threaten that identity, raising the specter of ‘great power Europe’, such fears might not be warranted. Building on the assumption that actors need stable identities – in Anthony Giddens' term, ontological security – and achieve them by routinizing relations with significant others, I examine the routines through which EU member states secure their civilian and civilizing identity. I argue that the publicity and deliberation inherent in those routines can help to stabilize healthy security relations among EU member states and in Europe's external relations, thus strengthening the EU's role as a civilizing power.