Europeanizing ideologies

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between ideology, the state and the transnational as it bears on European integration. Though typically studied in national contexts, ideologies and their clash have been Europe-wide since their emergence. As I argue, the European Union (EU) can be understood both as the continuation of these long-standing cross-border dynamics, and as the attempt to supersede them. Contemporary developments renew this dialectic. By exploring how ideology and European integration entwine, the paper underlines the value of a research agenda of heightened importance as the ideological hegemony of recent decades breaks down. 1 KEYWORDS Europe; European Union; history; ideology; politicization The emergence of political ideologies tracked the emergence of the modern state. Accepting the ambiguities of definition and causality, a temporal overlap seems clear. Isms of diagnosis and prescription tied to groups of various kinds developed with the reorganization of authority that brought the feudal period to a close. Whether in the guise of doctrines intended to legitimise new institutions, contest them in the name of self-determination, or restore the world that preceded them, ideologies came to the fore with the emerging state. Yet equally, ideologies were never likely to be constrained by state boundaries. Already in the late-eighteenth century, isms developed wider horizons, being extended to conflicts international in scope and deployed for cross-border constituencies. From the conflicts of the French Revolution to defences of empire, ideologies became transnational phenomena. It is the extension of ideologies outwards from the state that this article examines, with an eye in particular to European integration. Scholars typically approach ideology as a phenomenon of national settings, or else leave its sphere undefined (Bell, 2002, p. 224). Studies that set the likes of liberalism, socialism and conservatism in transnational context are rarer, like those of ideologies linked to transnational institutions (Martill, 2017). Where scholars look beyond the state, it is often to the global level. Steger's work on

Where Does Europe End? Christian Democracy and the Expansion of Europe*

“…To be clear, the present paper offers no fully-fledged alternative theory of European integration, nor does it present a monocausal story; however, by tracing the evolution of the ideas that animated key Christian Democratic leaders in their efforts to unify Europe, it sheds new light on events and processes that are all too easily overlooked in standard EU integration research that focuses only on rational incentives or functional imperatives. As a number of like-minded recent studies of ideology in the European Union show (for example Hien, 2020;Invernizzi Accetti, 2020;White, 2020;Wolkenstein, 2020)…”

“…It opened the door to totalitarian forms of rule, such as Nazism and Soviet Communism, both of which are anathema to Christian politics (see CDU, 1945, p. 2;Chappel, 2018, p. 132). These were also the dangers that European integration should guard against; indeed, the 'EU was to be built in their counterimage' (White, 2020(White, , p. 1294.…”

Christian Europe Redux

“…131–36). In this way, the new European order should be able to guard against excessive concentrations of power and ideological abuses of the latter (see White, 2020).…”

“…This article contributes to the emerging debate on political ideologies and the European Union (see for example Forlenza, 2017;Hien, 2020;Hien & Wolkenstein, 2021;White, 2020;Wolkenstein, 2020). As White (2020White ( , p. 1288 put it in his introduction to a recent high-profile special issue on the topic, the EU is a fascinating object of study if one is interested in ideologies because it 'has been built on ideology, and also against it'.…”

“…This article contributes to the emerging debate on political ideologies and the European Union (see for example Forlenza, 2017;Hien, 2020;Hien & Wolkenstein, 2021;White, 2020;Wolkenstein, 2020). As White (2020White ( , p. 1288 put it in his introduction to a recent high-profile special issue on the topic, the EU is a fascinating object of study if one is interested in ideologies because it 'has been built on ideology, and also against it'. The project of European integration, that is, is both 'a continuation of the long-standing projection of ideologies across borders that has characterized Europe since the French Revolution' and an effort 'to transcend ideological conflict and its cross-border reverberations, informed by an idea of the supranational as a realm beyond ideological division'.…”