Research Projects at the Centre for the Study of Europe

Copenhagen Business School

Faculty of Language, Communication and Culture

Within the general thematic frame “Cultural, political and legal aspects of European integration and diversity” the members of the Centre for the Study of Europe are currently engaged in the following research projects.

Historical Aspects of the Legitimation of Power

Michael Herslund

The project examines different types of legitimation of political power from the fundamental opposition between the Greek concept of free citizens and the Oriental despotism – as seen by the Greeks – to the contemporary democratic welfare state, where the freedom of the individual is limited in exchange of provision and protection by the state. Between these two there is no continuous development, because serveral types of states and legitimation of power are found between these extremes. In the Roman Empire alone there are huge differences between the republican oligarchy – and scattered attempts at democracy – and the despotism (with Oriental shades) of the late empire, a despotism, which from Constantine and onward, finds a religious legitimisation in the Christian faith.

In European history the feudal society emerges as a strange exception insofar as power in this type of state comes from a private, contractual bond between individuals. In reality, however, the feudal state shares important principles with the modern welfare state, because its origins must be sought in the giving up by individuals of personal and economic freedom in exchange of protection and security. The model lingers on more or less through most of European history and is definitely suppressed only in 1918 by the scattering of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the only legitimate factor was the Habsburg dynasty, i.e. a feudal-dynastic principle, according to which all subjects owed allegiance and loyalty to the monarch.

The successor of the feudal society, the nation state as conceived since the French Revolution and gradually built especially from 1848 and onwards exhibits at the same time, i.e. from 1918, different tendencies, of which several, with their emphasis on ethnic and racial unity, must be characterised as perversions of the idea of the nation state. This perversion is, however, a latent feature of the nation state, because the power in this state is grounded in and legitimised by the popular (ethnic, linguistic) community. The exaggerated nationalism, which was found in the fascist regimes of the 1920’s and 1930’s, is in reality also rooted in the Greek self-awareness with its built-in contempt for the barbarians, rather than in its positive version - the idea of the state as the community of free citizens.

These are aspects of European state buildings and constitutions, which the project wishes to examine - with an emphasis on the resemblances and parallels between the concepts of power legitimisation of different times and countries.

References:

Bitsch, Marie-Thérèse. 1999. Histoire de la construction européenne. Paris: Editions Complexe

Bloch, Marc. 1939. La Société féodale. Paris: Albin Michel [1968]

Dinan, Desmond. 1994. Even Closer Union: An Introduction to the European Union. London: MacMillan

Guibernau, Montserrat. 1996. The Nation State and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Blackwell

Hein, Dieter. 1999. Die Revolution von 1848/49. München: Beck

Henshall, Nicholas. 1992. The Myth of Absolutism: Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy. London: Longman

Herslund, Michael. 2002. Sider af Europas historie. Introduktion til Europæiske Studier. København: Samfundslitteratur

Hobsbawn, Eric & Terence Ranger, red. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Lonis, Raoul. 1994. La cité dans le monde grec. Paris: Nathan

Ober, Joseph. 1989. Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People. New Jersey: Princeton University Press

Persson, Hans-Åke & Fredrik Lindström, red. 1999. Europa – en svårfangad historia. Lund: Studentlitteratur - Malmö University Press

Todd, Emmanuel. 1990. L’invention de l’Europe. Paris: Seuil

Ørsted, Peter. 1994. Gajus Julius Caesar. Politik og moral i det romerske imperium. København: Gyldendal.

Moral and international relations

A discussion about moral legitimisation based on French foreign policy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Franck Pondevie

It is a fact that international development assistance is based on altruism and therefore is strongly tinted with moral. Indeed, moral is of central importance not only for international development assistance, but also for international relations in general.

Throughout the last decade, the link between moral and international relations has become a central issue. The central actor of international relations, the state, must now face the demands for more moral international relations made by other actors, e.g. NGO’s, media, public opinion, the civil society and lawyers.

This project is about the link between moral and international relations. I have chosen to focus upon the state, which is still the central actor of international relations, and foreign policy as a particular type of international relations.

The project starts with a theoretical part aimed at discussing central concepts such as actor, state, international relation, foreign policy and moral. It continues with a discussion about the question of legitimation within the field of politics and examines the reference to moral as a means to legitimise the foreign policy of a state.

The examples used in order to nourish the discussion are taken from French foreign policy in Sub-Saharan Africa (Rwanda, Ivory Coast).

Selected bibliography:

Ambrosetti, David. 2000. La France au Rwanda. Un discours de légitimation morale. Paris: Karthala

Boudon, Raymond & Bourricaud, François. 2000 [1982]. Dictionnaire critique de la sociologie. Paris: PUF, 4e édition

Gazano, Antoine. 2003. L’essentiel des relations internationales. Paris: Gaulino éditeur, 2e édition

Huisman-Perrin, Emmanuelle & Leterre, Thierry. 1994. Eléments de culture générale. Paris: CNED, Ministère de l’éducation nationale

Huntzinger, Jacques. 1987. Introduction aux relations internationales. Paris: Seuil

Kessler, Marie-Christine. 1999. La politique étrangère de la France, acteurs et processus. Paris: Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques

Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre. 1995. Anthropologie et développement, essai en socio-anthropologie du changement social. Paris-Marseille: Karthala

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1998 [1994], [1962]. Du contrat social ou principes du droit politique. Paris: Athena

The enlargement of the EU

Erik Lonning

The Copenhagen Criteria of 1993 marked the beginning of the reunification of Eastern and Western Europe, which led to the accession of eight Central and Eastern European countries together with Cyprus and Malta in 2004. Furthermore, Bulgaria and Romania were given assurances of membership of the EU in 2007, if the two countries continued their political and economic reform process.

The adjustment of the EU to further integration of 25, and in the future 27 or more countries, has been based on the Amsterdam Treaty and subsequently the Nice Treaty, which has been the present foundation of the cooperation since February 2003.

The focus of the research project is placed on the Convention proposal for a Constitutional Treaty, which was finalised in July 2003, and which will be revised in May 2004 with a view to adoption at the Summit in June 2004, and to be subsequently ratified by the Member States.

The pivotal points of the Constitutional Treaty are key words such as “values” and “cultures”. “Values” are seen as the common view of democracy in Europe, where the personal freedoms of the individual are underlined. “Cultures” are understood as the national basic features, which have developed in different ways in Europe over the last 2000 years. “Cultures” are particularly important to the many small countries in the EU in their efforts to consolidate a national identity and perception of themselves in the committing cooperation, where integration and harmonisation contribute to levelling out many differences among the EU Member States.

Bibliography:

Lonning, Erik et al. 2001. Samfundsøkonomi og internationale forhold. 5. edition. Nyt fra samfundsvidenskaberne

Lonning, Erik. 2003. Europæisk økonomi og politik. CBS

Lonning, Erik, ed. 2004a. Økonomisk Idéhistorie. CBS

Lonning, Erik. 2004b. Småstater i EU. CBS

Lonning, Erik. 2004c. EU’s forfatningstraktat. CBS.

European Integration and National Identity

The Challenge of the European Nation State in an Enlarged European Union

Klavs Odgaard Christensen

Has EU rescued the European nation state (Milward 1994) or has European integration actually threatened the legitimacy and sovereignty of the state and thereby undermined our national identity? This fundamental question concerning the relationship between the nation state and the EU seems more relevant and of current interest than ever before, especially if we keep the ongoing discussion about a European Constitution in mind.

Since the end of the Cold War and in the aftermath of the Maastricht Treaty (1992), European integration has been moving progressively forward and been driven by an ambition to integrate in areas of politics that traditionally have been the domain of the nation state. Nevertheless, does this more interventionist policy from the EU mean that the European nation state is going to disappear and be replaced by a “federation of nation states” as pronounced by several key political decision-makers? The question is not as simple as that, but it underlines one central aspect of the discussion among political leaders and national populations at the moment; namely in what way European integration will influence our national identity and therefore also our perception of the nation. It is this aspect of European politics that the project will discuss with a focus on the Nordic member states.

One of the key arguments of the project is that European integration can no longer just be seen as a pragmatic and technocratic (neo-functionalistic) project and binding cooperation. In an enlarged Europe, EU politics are now also a question of identity politics and high politics. Furthermore, The EU is aware of the fact that it needs a wider public support to reduce the distance between decision-makers and the national populations in order to legitimise EU.

Moreover, the project discusses whether there can be drawn any parallels between the creation and consolidation of the homogeneous nation state in the 19th century as an imagined community (Anderson 1983) and the ongoing European integration process. Seen from a historical perspective, there is a good reason for comparison of the nation building in the 19th century Europe with the ongoing European integration - in that elements and combinations of political and cultural factors were important ingredients for making unity in diversity within the nation state. The question is: Do we see some of the characteristics of the 19th century nation building at a supranational EU-level today?

Selected bibliography:

Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso

Billig, M. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Sage

Dinan, D. 1999. Ever Closer Union? London: Lynne Rienner

Dinan, D. 2004. Europe Recast. A History of European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

Dukes, P. 2004. Paths to a New Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

Featherstone, K. & C.M. Radaelli. 2003. The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Gellner, E. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell

Guerrina. 2002. Europe, History, Ideas, Ideologies. London: Arnold Publishers

Hobsbawm, E. 1990. Nations and Nationalism Since 1780. Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Hutchinson, J. & A.D. Smith. 1994. (ed.) Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press

McCormick, J. 2002. Understanding the European Union. A Concise Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

McCrone, D. 1998. The Sociology of Nationalism. London: Routledge

Miller, D. 2000. On Nationality. Oxford: Clarendon Press

Milward, A. 1992. The European Rescue of the Nation State. Berkeley: University of California Press

Moravcsik, A. 1998. The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power From Messina to Maastricht. London: UCL Press

Nugent, N. 2004. European Union Enlargement. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan

Phillipson, R. 2003. English-Only Europe? Challenging Language Policy. London & New York: Rouledge

Smith, A. D. 1991. National Identity. London: Penguin

Torbiörn, K.M. Destination Europe. The Political and Economic Growth of a Continent. Manchester: Manchester University Press

Urwin, D. 1995. The Community of Europe: A History of European Integration Since 1945. London & New York: Longman.

Culture and Politics: The European Enlargement

Ramona Samson

The enlargement is from a political, social and economic but also culturally, linguistically and with regard to identity the most significant event in Europe’s recent history. Even if the enlargement has attracted considerable attention from political and academic environments, the cultural aspects of this process have only been dealt with superficially. The project will study the relationship between cultural dynamics in Central and Eastern Europe and processes in the political sphere in relation to the enlargement. The project will be based on the understanding that political processes are dependent on individual and collective perceptions. This approach focuses on how people, be it actors or spectators, perceive the political reality and how this affects their opinions and actions. The basic assumption is that political processes are under constant influence from the cultural context where they take place. Phenomena such as power and authority are culturally very sensitive. Politics and culture should be studied as parallel and yet interrelated structures with independent dynamics. The project tries, through interdisciplinary studies, to identify and conceptualise aspects of the relation between national cultures and European politics. Emphasis will be on the period after 1989.

Bibliography:

Previous published research:

Samson, Ramona. 2003a. The Conception of Culture in Central and Eastern Europe In R. Samson, ed. Studying Europe - Forskningsprojekter inden for Europæiske Studier. CWPLSP 8-2003 (47-67)

Samson, Ramona. 2003b. EU Enlargement and The New Integration Approach - Sketches of a Conceptual Framework. In Voicu, Bogdan and Horatiu Rusu, eds. Globalisation, European Integration and Social Development in European Post-communist Societies. Research Institute for Quality of Life - Romanian Academy of Science. Bucharest: Psihomedia Publisher House

Samson, Ramona. 2003c. Following the Myth of Eurus in the European Integration Labyrinth.In Ionuţ Matei Tomuş, ed. Caietele lui Mopete. Publicaţie de Cultură 1. Sibiu.Forthcoming publications

Samson, Ramona. 2004. European Integration in Terms of Cultural Policy – Elements for a Philosophico-political Analysis. Caietele lui Mopete. Sibiu (forthcoming)

Samson, Ramona. 2004. Traditional Approaches to European Integration and CEE – A Critique. FIRST Seminar 11th November. Expected to be published in CWP. September – 2004

Further Bibliography of the Project:

Beck, Ulrich Anthony Giddens and Scott Lash. 1994. Reflexive modernization - politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order. Oxford: Polity Press

Bellier, Irene and Thomas M. Wilson. 2000. An anthropology of the European Union
-Building, imagining and experiencing the new Europe, Berg Publishers, Oxford

Castells, Manuel. 1998. End of millennium. The information age, economy, society and culture, nr. 3. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell

Delanty, G. 2000. Citizenship in the Global Age: Culture, Society and Politics. Buckingham: Open University Press

Eder, Klaus and Bernhard Giesen. 2001. European Citizenship between National Legacies and Postnational Projects. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Farell, Mary, Fella Stefano and Newman, Michael. 2002. European integration in the 21st century - Unity in diversity? London: Sage Publications

Fossum, John Erik. 2003. The European Union – In Search of an Identity. European Journal of Political Theory

Jönsson, Christer, Sven Tägil and Gunnar Törnqvist. 2000. Organizing European Space. London: Sage Publications

Olsen, Johan P. 2001. The Many Faces of Europeanization. Working Paper 01/2, Oslo: ARENA: http://www.uio.no/

Rosamond, Ben. 2000. Theories of European Integration. London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin’s Press

Soysal, Yasemin. 2002. Locating Europe. European Societies 4(3).265-284

Stråth, Bo. 2000. Europe and the Other and Europe as the Other. Multiple Europes, nr. 10. Bruxelles: P.I.E.- Peter Lang

Sakwa, Richard and Anne Stevens. 2000. Contemporary Europe. Macmillan foundations series. Basingstoke: Macmillan

Vink, Maarten P. 2003. What is Europeanisation? And other questions on a new research agenda. European Political Science, Vol. 3.1.

Russian post-socialist legal culture in a European perspective

Old wine in new bottles and vice versa.

Towards an interdisciplinary approach departing from legal linguistics

Viktor Smith

The legal system(s) and culture(s) of today’s Russian Federation are a product of more that 1,000 years of development, which has in some regards been closely tied with (legal) history on the rest of the European continent, while in others it has been subject to its own idiosyncrasies dictated by geo-social specifics and shifting political agendas - yet resulting in a certain monolithic continuity (boyar rule, imperial autocracy, socialist totalitarianism, president-led financial oligarchy). This has produced a number of inner tensions and paradoxes, which also clearly manifest themselves in the field of law and make any comparisons with the rest of Europe highly sensitive to the theoretical framework adopted. Depending on one’s exact choice, one may reach seemingly contradictory conclusions, such as a high degree of similarity and compatibility with legal thinking in Western Europe vs. insuperable systematic and cultural barriers.

The current project aims at contributing to a further specification of the relevant levels of analysis by distinguishing between law when understood as (1) self-contained systems of rules and concepts developed through the continuous exchange professional skills across national and cultural borders, and (2) a socio-cultural phenomenon deeply rooted in the pre-legal ideas and beliefs of the legal subjects concerned and the full complexity of social and cultural ties between them. The interrelation between these levels of analysis is examined by further developing Louis Hjelmslev’s generalised interpretation of F. de Saussure’s distinction between form and substance, applying it not only to the inherent structure of language but also to the interdependencies between language and the extra-linguistic “purport”, which may in itself be subject to a structural analysis, resulting in the identification of a (non-linguistic) form and a (non-linguistic) substance - the analysis, of which belong under the “non-linguistic sciences”. Jurisprudence seems to be one of the obvious candidates for continuing Hjelmslev’s line of reasoning.

The empirical basis is constituted by: (1) The conceptual framework and general principles of Russian private law, which is not merely a “transplant” of but an independent development of the Roman legal tradition as crystallised by the Pandectist School of the 19th century – which has, ironically, at the same time served as an instrument for cementing the very core of the socialist legal order (ownership of the means of production etc.) and now also its gradual phase out. (2) Russian constitutional law, which has been in close dialogue with the history of European ideas since the Age of Enlightenment, but with quite contradictory consequences. The main focus is the liberty rights affirmed by the 1993 Constitution and their compatibility with prevailing tendencies in Russian legal culture and practice.

Previous publications:

Smith, V. 1996. Russisk ret – en by i Rusland? [Russian law – a town in Russia?]. 2.34-42

Smith, V. 2003a. Linguistic diversity and the convergence of European legal systems and cultures: Is Legrand’s pessimism justified? In Irene Baron, ed. Language and Culture.Copenhagen Studies in Language 29.139-151

Smith, V. 2003b. From language to law and back again: Avoiding a few vicious circles. In Ramona Samson, ed. Studying Europe. Copenhagen Working Papers in LSP 8-2003.69-89

Smith, V. In press. Linguistic diversity vs. legal unity in Europe: An indissoluble antagonism? In D’Achille, P. & I. Korzen, eds. Tipologia linguistica e società. Considerazioni inter- e intralinguistiche. Linguistic Typology and Society. Inter- and Intralinguistic Reflections. Floren­ce: Cesati.

The diversity of legal cultures in the light of European integration

Irene Baron

The objective of the present project is to investigate, to what extent Danish legal culture is influenced by the European integration efforts as manifested primarily by the legal practice of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

By ‘legal culture’ I understand that part of the legal order of a country which materialises in the style of interpretation of its law courts, or in other words the methods used by judges to get from a general rule to a concrete decision. Legal culture thus comprises the ways of thinking which are characteristic of a legal profession rooted in a common tradition, common cultural identity and not least a common language. In such a perspective the legal cultures are bound to be different in countries such as Denmark, France and Britain.

Regardless of these differences, the ECJ has, since its creation in 1952, played an ever increasing part in the European integration process. Because it is composed by lawyers with different national backgrounds, its style of interpretation is not rooted in one single culture; rather, it is the result of a compromise between different traditions – although with a clear influence from French, and increasingly also British, legal culture – in relation to a political wish to further European integration.

The project has a double aim:

1. On the basis of comparative legal and linguistic theories - to describe the features characteristic of Danish, French and British legal cultures.

2. With a starting point in concrete court decisions - to uncover the consequences of the purpose oriented and dynamic style of interpretation of the ECJ - as rooted in French and British traditions - for the legal culture, legal development and legal concepts in Denmark.

References:

Baron, Irène. 2003. Diversité linguistique et cultures juridiques: Les langues constituent-elles un obstacle à l’intégration européenne? In I. Baron, ed. Language and Culture, Copenhagen Studies in Language 29, 153-166

Baron, Irène. 2004. Dansk og fransk retskultur: To måder at anskue verden på. In A. L. Kjær & H. Koch, eds. Ret, sprog og integration i Europa i dag. Copenhagen: Thomson GadJura

Burley, Anne-Marie & Mattli, Walter. 1993. Europe Before the Court: A Political Theory of Legal Integration. International Organization 47, 1. 41-76

Rasmussen, Hjalte. 2001. EU-RET i kontekst. Copenhagen: Thomson GadJura

Wivel, Anders, ed. 1998. Explaining European Integration. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Political Studies Press

Zweigert, Konrad & Hein Kötz. 1998. An introduction to Comparative Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.