This book argues that since 2001 the primary discursive context for articulating a European identity within the EU has increasingly become the idea of a common foreign policy for Europe. A new grand project of making Europe a true global player is being put forth and it is this as yet unrealised ideal that European citizens are now being asked to identify with. The author examines European identity as an ideological construction that seeks to elicit emotional and affective attachment to the political project of realising a utopian ideal. He unravels the discourses involved in the construction of European identity by drawing on theories and methods from discourse analysis, the study of political myths, narratology and psychoanalysis. The European Neighbourhood Policy is studied in detail, with a focus on the dynamic challenges that ensue when grand ideological statements have to be implemented in a concrete and specific context.

Christoffer Kølvraa is Associate Professor at the Institute for History and Area Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark.

« […] the book should be read by anyone seeking to make use of contemporary conceptions of ideology outside of well-trodden paths […].» (Patrice Wangen, Journal of Common Market Studies 53/5 2015)

Contents: Identity and Ideology: A Theoretical Framework: Discourse, Desire and Ideology – Unity in Diversity Europe: European Values. The Semantics of a Nodal Point - United in Diversity. Self and «Other-Self» in Europe - Overcoming Suffering. The Myth of Civilised Europe – Global Player Europe: Waiting (in Vain) for the Barbarians - The Semantics of Europe’s Role in the World - The Social Logics of a Civilising Power - Enjoying the World. Europe’s Mythical Foreign Policy - A Global Player in the Neighbourhood. Inhaltsverzeichnis