Jean Monnet Chair
Democracy, Diversity and European Identity in the European Union
The Chair builds on existing teaching and research programmes of the Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.
One of the pillars on which the European Union – India relations rests is the shared commitment to democracy and diversity. The European Union has democracy as a foundational system of values which it seeks to strengthen and promote. Democracy is a recurrent theme in both EU’s internal as well as external manifestations.In the EU integration project European citizenship was one of the mechanisms through which the EU set out to build and enhance democratic spaces and to create a ‘demos’ for itself. The EU sought to use European citizenship for creating European identity, an identity which at the early stage of the project was acknowledged as a necessity for the integration process to deepen and work successfully. At the same time this integration of established nation-states, whose own ‘demos’ were steeped in their culture, tradition, and language, meant diversity was a fundamental tenet. This is reflected in the EU motto, ‘United in Diversity’. Today both these foundational values of democracy and diversity are challenging the EU member states and the integration project in multiple ways. Eurobarometer surveys show the formation of European identity is painstakingly slow and often under the cloud but they also indicate that while most EU citizens continue to primarily identify with their nation-states, many do think there should be more European-level decision-making on a range of areas.
As an international actor the European Union is known for its soft power projections based on a continued commitment to democracy, rule of law, human rights and minority rights. Norms and values thus range high on the EU agenda. At the end of the Cold War with the big bang enlargement on the cards the EU had laid down clear rules for induction of new members underscoring this set of core values. However, one of the challenges that member states are facing today is to uphold these democratic principles in the light of the competing claims that diversity generates. European democracies are increasingly engaged in working out responses to the heterogeneous public sphere that immigration has created. Questions of accommodating identity demands of cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are acquiring an urgency as never before. Accommodation is being attempted through various strategies of assimilation, integration, multiculturalism or interculturalism. Such demands have also seen severe right wing backlash across European states. Added to this, the territorial borders of some member states are being challenged by sub-national claims. The development of a supra-national EU identity gets more complicated as a consequence of these events.
It is therefore important to understand the complex interplay of democracy, diversity and identity that is playing out in Europe and the way in which it affects the EU integration dynamics. How do we assess developments like Brexit, varied response of EU member states to the refugee crisis 2015, debates on headscarves, Roma rights, increasingly prominent reach and visibility of right-wing parties? How have recurring terror attacks in member states complicated diversity acceptance and accommodation? Do these challenges leave the Union as a weak actor? Is more power to the EU rather than less a solution to multiple challenges – social, economic, political that EU states face? A closer look at how democracy, diversity and European identity is at work thus becomes imperative to grasp these interconnected realities. The Jean Monnet Chair on ‘Democracy, Diversity and European Identity in the European Union’ focuses on the following themes to understand these complexities.
Themes
Democracy and Europe
Democracy stands as a fundamental pillar in Europe’s identity and integration process. The European Union upholds democracy as a core value, both internally and in its external relations. However, the EU faces a range of challenges that test the resilience of democratic principles. It is therefore important to focus on the complex interplay between Europe and democracy which is essential to grasp the evolving dynamics across the continent and its neighbourhood.
Europe, Diversity and European Identity
The EU projects soft power based on its commitment to democracy, the rule of law, human rights and minority rights. The EU integration project aims to build a European identity through mechanisms such as European citizenship, with local voting rights and rights to complain to the European Ombudsman and approach the Court of Justice of the European Union. The EU has long been criticised for suffering from a democratic deficit and its inability to create a real connection with the citizens of the Union whose first referral identity continues to be national. Further, the EU’s successive enlargement following the end of the Cold War brought the East and the West together, but the East-West meet has generated its own sets of contestations over values that the Union espouses with implications for European identity construction that the EU had embarked on decades back in the 1970s.
National Identity, Nation-states in Europe
National identity and nation-states have significantly shaped Europe’s history and culture, as well as its political systems, social structures and international relations. The EU has adopted a unique approach to accommodate this defining characteristic within its member states. However, its expansion has brought further challenges including nationalist movements, populism and managing migrant influxes. While migration constructively diversified European societies, it also fuelled far-right politics and anti-immigrant sentiments. It is therefore important to study how European democracies tackle the questions of identity through assimilation, integration, multiculturalism and interculturalism strategies.
Subnational Challenges
Europe’s subnational challenges involve the multifaceted interaction of democracy, diversity, and identity within the European Union. Subnational claims challenge member states’ territorial borders, complicating the development of a supranational European identity. While the European Union has adopted a nation-state centric approach as was reflected in the case of the Scottish and Catalan referendum, it also has the European Committee of the Regions in place since 1994. This is an advisory body composed of locally and regionally elected representatives coming from all Member States which enables the representatives to share their opinion on EU legislation that directly impacts regions and cities.
India and Europe/EU
In the evolving world order of the 21st century India and Europe, two regions with complex histories, are on the road to deeper ties. The European Union strives to accommodate diversity, but challenges like nationalism and populism persist. India faces similar challenges, with its diverse population and social divisions. India-EU relations are a multifaceted partnership with shared values like democracy and mutual interests, fostering growth and cooperation in sectors like trade, investment, security and climate change. Following Brexit, India-UK relations merit attention, especially given the large and vibrant Indian diaspora in the UK. EU’s growing concern about the rise of China as a challenger to the existing rules-based international world order brings it closer to India. This is reflected in the Indo-Pacific strategies and the alternative connectivity that the EU and the UK are proposing. In the current context of the Russia- Ukraine war Europe’s concern with China has only further increased.