This paper addresses the effect of EU identity on EU citizens’ support for integrative EU policy. Based on the social identity approach it is hypothesized that positive relationship between these...Show moreThis paper addresses the effect of EU identity on EU citizens’ support for integrative EU policy. Based on the social identity approach it is hypothesized that positive relationship between these variables exists. Additionally the study attempts to replicate the findings of Carey (2002) that national identity strength impairs support for EU integration. Quantitative deductive research is conducted using Eurobarometer (2022) data. The models control for levels of income and education, political beliefs, and trust in national government. Results from seven binary logistic regressions and two multiple linear regressions show significant effects of EU identity on support for integrative EU policy and indicate that EU identity is a valuable addition to more established theories of support for EU integration. Furthermore, this study contradicts the findings of Carey (2002) that national identity strength hampers EU support.Show less
This thesis will focus on the area of Europe and the connection between European food culture(s) and European identity will be discussed. There are two cases studies in this thesis. The first case...Show moreThis thesis will focus on the area of Europe and the connection between European food culture(s) and European identity will be discussed. There are two cases studies in this thesis. The first case study will examine why Europeans’ preferences and standards of choosing what to eat are different from other cultures such as the United States and how the food choice has an influence on European identity. The second case will focus on how the Slow Food movement has risen in Europe under Globalization, and furthermore, how food culture contributes to building and enhancing European identity.Show less
In face of various political and economic challenges, the EU has been making efforts to glue its member states together through the concept of a “European culture.” This research seeks to answer...Show moreIn face of various political and economic challenges, the EU has been making efforts to glue its member states together through the concept of a “European culture.” This research seeks to answer how the position of elderly citizens in the aspiration of fostering “Europeanness” through the The European Year represents the larger problematics of creating a “European” identity? In this way, another aspect of the complicated matter of the creation of “one united European people” is to be provided by including how the attempts of creating unity can be at the expense of excluding certain persons and even whole demographic groups who do not fit into the specific rhetoric of unity. The innovativeness of this research lies in the fact that it will focus on elderly EU citizens. So far, this demographic group has namely been insufficiently recognised in the context of “European” identity creation.Show less
The European Union’s approach towards the OPT on human rights has often been criticised for its conflicting interests, its internal division and coordination. However, simply renouncing the EU’s...Show moreThe European Union’s approach towards the OPT on human rights has often been criticised for its conflicting interests, its internal division and coordination. However, simply renouncing the EU’s effort in human rights promotion in the name of realism, neo-liberalism or Eurocentric imperialism does not offer clarifications why the EU is committed to universal human rights norms and as to why the EU proved to be very weak in projecting its human rights agenda. This thesis suggests a normative power approach to the study of EU human rights policy towards the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Vital to it is the assumption that EU human rights policy and the relation between the EU and Israel has been and should be normative. To analyse this assumption, this thesis draws upon the existing literature in regard to ‘Normative Power Europe’ and adopt Ian Manners tripartite analytical framework in order to assess the EU’s adherence to human rights norms and its external identity, illustrate how the EU diffuses human rights norms, and how the impact of this should be evaluated in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In doing so, this thesis aims to add to the empirical abundance of NPE literature and applying normative power to the human rights dimensions of EU-Israeli relations. To address these goals, the research shows the inconsistencies between the EU’s rhetoric and the diffusion of norms in Israel’s policy. This thesis will argue that the EU has normative intentions but that this is not a precondition for firm action and the diffusion of human rights norms in Israel. The protection of human rights as core norm of the EU is easily sacrificed when it has to compete with (vital) self-interests such as a collective European identity, security interests and strategic interests. The extent to which the EU pursues a human rights agenda is nevertheless very limited to the detriment of the EU’s normative identity.Show less
In February 1992, the twelve member states of the European Union ratified the Treaty of Maastricht, and thereby decided to introduce a common European currency by 2002, the euro. Whereas this was...Show moreIn February 1992, the twelve member states of the European Union ratified the Treaty of Maastricht, and thereby decided to introduce a common European currency by 2002, the euro. Whereas this was mainly a monetary act of union, previous literature has often assumed that the euro also has implications for European identity within the participating countries. Evidence from opinion polling data seems to point in the same direction: when Eurozone citizens are asked what symbolises the EU for them personally, a large majority states that this is the euro. However, this thesis argues that the impact of the euro has in fact been marginal – at least initially. The thesis uses three in-depth case studies to formulate a hypothesis about the influence of the euro on European identity in all EU countries. The case studies are France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom for the period 1992-2013, examined through data from opinion polls and newspaper articles. A second section of the thesis tests the hypothesis through comparative analysis of data from three Eurobarometer questions. The results suggest that Eurozone citizens did feel more European at first, but that this sentiment of Europeanness has declined quickly with the advent of the euro crisis since 2009. From then onwards, the opposite of what was expected seems to be the case: non-Eurozone citizens have more positive feelings connected to the European Union.Show less
