Human rights vs. security? The EU’s secular international identity from a transatlantic perspective

Jenichen, Anne (2015) Human rights vs. security? The EU’s secular international identity from a transatlantic perspective. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper is a very first attempt to explore the EU’s secular identity as it is constructed through the EU’s external relations and in comparison to its main transatlantic partner, and ‘other’, the US. It primarily aims at understanding how the EU and the US interpret the role of religion in their foreign policies and whether and how their interpretations resemble or differ from each other. Against the background of debates on the EU’s international role identity and based on a discursive approach, the paper analyzes official documents produced by EU and US foreign policy institutions in their relationship with predominantly Muslim states in which religion is political salient, such as Nigeria and Pakistan. The results suggest a relatively similar relevance of religion in EU and US foreign policy but differences in how issues of religion are framed. Whereas for the EU, religion is primarily a human rights as well as a security issue, which mainly contributes to political problems, the US primarily securitizes religion but also sees it more frequently as a resource for solving problems. EU institutions, especially the European Parliament, as well as the US Congress represent Islam and Muslims much more often in a negative way than Christians, while the US administration pursues a more balanced approach.

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