"Eastern and Western Europe: Forging a New European Identity?"

Herrberg, Antje and Moxon-Browne, Edward. (1995) "Eastern and Western Europe: Forging a New European Identity?". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

In the construction of a new political, economic, and security architecture in Europe, both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), are now assuming fundamental roles in the organisation of a 'new European Order'. In this context, the question of what Europe, national identity, and European identity constitute has become an issue for intellectuals, decision makers and the individual citizen. Against this background of shifting political signposts, we argue that it is especially the concept of European identity which has acquired a new urgency and a new relevance. The 'politics of exclusion' which once emphasised the boundaries of the European Community in the international context, are now being replaced by the 'politics of inclusion'. This is a process in which former boundaries are transformed into bridgeheads, resulting in a vivid exchange of goods, capital, and values. We find ourselves caught up in a dynamic in which the question of how to relate oneself to others is a fundamental one. In this context, it appears that the distinctions between the EU, its immediate neighbours from Eastern and Central Europe, and the 'abroad' often personified in Russia, have become blurred and at the same time, very distinct.

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