Ideas of Europe: Civilization and Constitution

Iris. European Journal of Philosophy and Public Debate 1 (1):3-17 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this article, the author discusses two aspects of the representation of “Europe” as a historical subject that are bound to prove controversial: its relationship to universality, and the conditions of its becoming democratic as a polity. The paradox of “European identity” is that it conceived of itself as the particular site of the invention of the universal and its revelation to the world. A dialectics of recognition through the confrontation with the Other was always involved (above all in the colonial form), but it must pass now from projection to exposure to alterity. In that way a planetary construction of the universal can include a decisive contribution from Europe as one of its “provinces.” Democratizing democracy itself via the invention of a trans-national “co-citizenship” would be an element of this contribution. This is the object of a “material constitution” of Europe already on its way, but still lacking a clear representation of its “constituent power.” Debates on the absence of a European demos and the positive conditions for a federal government have shown that it will require a deconstruction of the notion of “sovereignty of the people,” separating its insurgent dimension from its function as a legitimation of the monopoly of violence, which was closely associated in nation-states with the legal guarantee of individual subjective rights

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 102,873

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Memory and Identity of Europe.Remo Bodei - 2009 - Iris. European Journal of Philosophy and Public Debate 1 (1):19-25.
Patočka, the meaning of the post-European spirit and its direction.Philippe Merlier - 2017 - Labyrinth: An International Journal for Philosophy, Value Theory and Sociocultural Hermeneutics 19 (1):125-134.
Multi-Ethnicity and the Idea of Europe.Ash Amin - 2004 - Theory, Culture and Society 21 (2):1-24.
The Idea of Europe in the Modern Spanish Philosophy.Mieczysław Jagłowski - 2009 - Dialogue and Universalism 19 (6-7):59-72.
Political Ethics and European Constitution.Paulo Ferreira da Cunha - 2015 - Berlin, Heidelberg: Imprint: Springer.
On Imperative of Creative Thinking about European Integration.Józef Niżnik - 2007 - Dialogue and Universalism 17 (12):95-100.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-11-24

Downloads
19 (#1,105,493)

6 months
19 (#147,813)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Etienne Balibar
Kingston University

Citations of this work

Étienne Balibar on the dialectic of universal citizenship.Christiaan Boonen - 2021 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 48 (6):904-933.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references