Civilisational narratives in European Studies debates on EU enlargement

McMahon, Richard (2015) Civilisational narratives in European Studies debates on EU enlargement. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: This paper addresses issues from my current Marie Curie-funded two-year research project at the University of Portsmouth. This project seeks to understand how two types of geography have interacted: 1. the spatial patterns of the transnational scholarly networks which study European integration, known as European Studies (ES) or European Union Studies (EUS) 2. their narratives, and especially their normative narratives, about the geography of European integration I focus on scholarship of the EU’s 2004 eastern enlargement as a case study and therefore on opinions by scholars about which countries are more or less suitable for EU membership. The present paper addresses two important questions that my research faces. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. The questions are: 1. Do EUS scholars produce geographical narratives which suggest that certain countries are more suitable candidates than others? 2. Do these narratives mobilise civilisational thinking? This paper approaches civilisations as socially constructed discourses, or sets of received ideas and focusses on their mobilisation for political purposes. I am particularly interested in civilisational narratives because these appear so prominently in wider intellectual and political debates about EU enlargement to the east. My supposition is that if EUS experts develop normative geographical narratives, these wider discourses are likely to influence them.

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