Europolis. Constitutional patriotism beyond the nation-state

This book offers a highly original approach to European integration by synthesising contemporary discussions about identity and institutions of the European Union with a theoretical approach to intercultural understanding.

In the growing literature on European integration there is still a lack of understanding of the key political elements of this integration. In this study the author takes what is one of the most obvious assumptions about European integration – namely, that it involves convergence toward a common political identity, along with a common market – and argues that a continuously ‘translated’ and ‘negotiated’ divergence in identities is not only a more likely outcome, but could also be more beneficial for the eventual formation of a European public sphere and, hence, a viable and legitimate democracy on a continental scale. Nanz presents the idea of a European public sphere as a multiplicity of ongoing cross-cultural civic dialogues, which may serve as a conceptual tool for current research on new forms of European governance arrangements.

This book offers useful overviews of the debates on the nature of the European identity and the European public sphere, and will be of interest to scholars, advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of European studies, political theory, political philosophy, international relations and legal theory.

Patrizia Nanz is Professor of Political Theory and Director of the Centre for European Law and Politics at the University of Bremen.