Collective identity and democracy: The Impact of EU enlargement

The enlarged and enlarging European Union is a novel political project in motion. The supranational institutions created for six member states over 50 years ago are influencing the everyday lives of more than 500 million European citizens in 27 countries. In addition to being national citizens such as French, Polish or Hungarian, they are also Europeans.
This report brings together contributions on the changing nature of collective identity formation processes in the enlarged and enlarging Europe. The point of departure is a broad reconsideration of the concept of identity in the context of completed and future EU enlargement. The authors investigate the changes of established identities in old, new and prospective EU member states, and ask how ongoing political processes affect who the Europeans are; what is the content of their reconstructed identity; and what are the consequences of changes in collective identity formation for political processes in Europe?