Leiden University Student Repository

Thakoer, Sylvia (2020)

Unity in Diversity? 'Christian Europe' in EU Debates on the Collective European Identity

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

With the slogan ‘unity in diversity’, the EU has been striving to promote a European identity that EU citizens can identify with next to their national identity, and to stimulate cohesion between the European member states. This motto expresses an “imagined cultural community of Europe”, which uses history and heritage as a collective identity marker. In the twentieth century, the cultural heritage of Christianity has been viewed to descend as an identity marker. This is due to the increased secularization in Europe. However, secularism in Western European countries and the EU have been contested by other European countries in several cases. Hence, Christianity has reclaimed a critical role in the debates on the European identity. This thesis will study how Christianity, as a cultural and historical characteristic of Europe, plays a role in the debates on the collective European identity in the EU. A close analysis will be done on speeches and statements from EU political actors...Show moreWith the slogan ‘unity in diversity’, the EU has been striving to promote a European identity that EU citizens can identify with next to their national identity, and to stimulate cohesion between the European member states. This motto expresses an “imagined cultural community of Europe”, which uses history and heritage as a collective identity marker. In the twentieth century, the cultural heritage of Christianity has been viewed to descend as an identity marker. This is due to the increased secularization in Europe. However, secularism in Western European countries and the EU have been contested by other European countries in several cases. Hence, Christianity has reclaimed a critical role in the debates on the European identity. This thesis will study how Christianity, as a cultural and historical characteristic of Europe, plays a role in the debates on the collective European identity in the EU. A close analysis will be done on speeches and statements from EU political actors about the EU Constitutional Treaty and the refugee crisis.Show less

collective European identity

EU

Christianity

secularism

Constitutional Treaty

immigration crisis

Author

Thakoer, Sylvia

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Europe / French

Supervisors

Ieven, Bram

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en