The Flexibility of European Identities

Europe suffers from an existential identity crisis, which may seem unmatched in its history. However, this essay argues that hesitance and discussion about the European identity and borders, internal as well as external, have always existed. The first part elaborates on Europe’s most classic intern...

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Autor principal:	Idesbald Godderis
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN PL
Publicado:	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing 2021
Materias:	Europe identities East‑West North‑South Law K Political science J
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d3bed0cc3fa641f5b04fde8e15714886
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d3bed0cc3fa641f5b04fde8e157148862021-11-27T13:08:27ZThe Flexibility of European Identities10.12797/Politeja.12.2015.37.021733-67162391-6737https://doaj.org/article/d3bed0cc3fa641f5b04fde8e157148862021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.akademicka.pl/politeja/article/view/2275https://doaj.org/toc/1733-6716https://doaj.org/toc/2391-6737 Europe suffers from an existential identity crisis, which may seem unmatched in its history. However, this essay argues that hesitance and discussion about the European identity and borders, internal as well as external, have always existed. The first part elaborates on Europe’s most classic internal division, between East and West, and demonstrates that this juxtaposition was invented in the 18th century without any historical foundations. The second part discusses the European identity of a number of peripheral regions in the West: Portugal, Sicily, Ireland, and Scandinavia. It shows that all of these regions have traditionally turned their back to Europe and did only recently acknowledge a European identity. The third part looks for some explanations for these evolutions and also reflects on the consequences for today. It highlights that Greece, the most troublesome country in the current Eurozone crisis, has only in the nineteenth century been acknowledged as the cradle of Europe and that this recognition has favoured Greek expansion under a European banner, up to (the southern part of) Cyprus. Greece and Cyprus, however, have significantly diverged from European developments: being orthodox and Ottoman for centuries, they were excluded from Renaissance and industrialization. This discrepancy reveals that European identities are utmost flexible and will undoubtedly develop further in the future. Idesbald GodderisKsiegarnia Akademicka PublishingarticleEuropeidentitiesEast‑WestNorth‑SouthLawKPolitical scienceJENPLPoliteja, Vol 12, Iss 5 (37) (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN PL
topic	Europe identities East‑West North‑South Law K Political science J
spellingShingle	Europe identities East‑West North‑South Law K Political science J Idesbald Godderis The Flexibility of European Identities
description	Europe suffers from an existential identity crisis, which may seem unmatched in its history. However, this essay argues that hesitance and discussion about the European identity and borders, internal as well as external, have always existed. The first part elaborates on Europe’s most classic internal division, between East and West, and demonstrates that this juxtaposition was invented in the 18th century without any historical foundations. The second part discusses the European identity of a number of peripheral regions in the West: Portugal, Sicily, Ireland, and Scandinavia. It shows that all of these regions have traditionally turned their back to Europe and did only recently acknowledge a European identity. The third part looks for some explanations for these evolutions and also reflects on the consequences for today. It highlights that Greece, the most troublesome country in the current Eurozone crisis, has only in the nineteenth century been acknowledged as the cradle of Europe and that this recognition has favoured Greek expansion under a European banner, up to (the southern part of) Cyprus. Greece and Cyprus, however, have significantly diverged from European developments: being orthodox and Ottoman for centuries, they were excluded from Renaissance and industrialization. This discrepancy reveals that European identities are utmost flexible and will undoubtedly develop further in the future.
format	article
author	Idesbald Godderis
author_facet	Idesbald Godderis
author_sort	Idesbald Godderis
title	The Flexibility of European Identities
title_short	The Flexibility of European Identities
title_full	The Flexibility of European Identities
title_fullStr	The Flexibility of European Identities
title_full_unstemmed	The Flexibility of European Identities
title_sort	flexibility of european identities
publisher	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d3bed0cc3fa641f5b04fde8e15714886
work_keys_str_mv	AT idesbaldgodderis theflexibilityofeuropeanidentities AT idesbaldgodderis flexibilityofeuropeanidentities
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The Flexibility of European Identities

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