Inventing Europe: Idea, Identity, Reality

by Gerard Delanty

This book is about how every age invented the idea of Europe in the mirror of its own identity: Europe is as much an idea as it is a reality, but it is also a contested idea and it was in adversity that European identity was constructed as a dichotomy of Self and Other. The book analyses the origins and development of the idea of Europe as a social construction from the earliest times to the present. Its challenging thesis is that the European idea has lent itself to a politics of division and exclusion, which has been disguised by superficial notions of unity. The author traces the origins of what he calls the discourse of Europeanism to forces lying deep in European history, such as the unifying and integrating myths of medieval Christendom, the Enlightenment and nineteenth-century nationalism, whose world-views have exerted an enduring hold over the European idea. The idea of Europe, Dr Delanty argues, must be judged by how it treats its minorities and not by reference to ambivalent notions of unity. Above all there is a need for it to be linked to a new politics of collective responsibility based on post-national citizenship.
Inventing Europe will have widespread appeal to students and teachers in the social and political sciences, in particular to those interested in the application of theoretical analysis to problems of identity in the modern polity. Its systematisation of the existing scholarship on the idea of Europe into an interpretative framework will be of additional interest to the many disciplines concerned with the relationship of the past to the present and the interrelations of world-views. The new critical dimension it brings to debates on the limits and possibilities of a European identity will make it indispensable to those working in the area of European studies and intellectual history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Lazaros Karavasilis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Έχετε διαβάσει ποτέ ένα βιβλίο εκείνη ακριβώς τη στιγμή που το χρειαζόσασταν; Ε αυτό.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delanty admits in his preface that his book is meant more for political scientists than it is for historians but I found his over exaggerations and lack of historical nuance hard to read. Sentences such as "The idea of civilization did not survive into the Twentieth Century" (109) are blatantly wrong.

In terms of argument, Delanty posits that 'Europe' as an idea was constructed through an othering of non-Europeans, such as Jews or Russians. Whilst this is convincing, it is also little that is new to us, even in the 1990s when the piece was written, and hasn't been new to us since Said. Delanty argues that Europe must now throw off nationalist individualism and embrace the cosmopolitan. A nice idea, but easier said than done.

[Dovaidas Pabiržis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ne tiek analizė, kiek ideologinis pamfletas. Viskas apie Europos idėją yra blogai - europiečiai rasistai, šovinistai, nacionalistai, Europos idėja pavojinga, bloga, nes reiškia europiečių dominavimą prieš viską, prieš ką galima dominuoti. Kapitalizmas, nacionalinės valstybės, revoliucijos, Europos Sąjunga - viskas blogis, nes nėra socializmas. Sovietai užimdami Europos dalį iki Berlyno ne puolė, o gynėsi. Blėniai.

[Natalia]

This man sees Europe like a formation. And it's constantly invents itself. his words are kinda heavy. So i think i read like a part of it. But i liked it.

[madi]

Reading this for uni has stopped me from fulfilling my reading goal this year so I’m counting it x

[Ira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a brief summary of what happened to the idea of Europe during the ages. In this sense it is a very good one, moreover because it consideres the idea of Europe from a global point of view and it attempts to deconstructed the idea of unity that the bureaucracy of the EU is attempting to impose.
But I do not appreciate the considerations on the "Mitteleuropa" concept, based on some simplifications and mistakes: it tends to considerate the germanic power similar to the austrian one (that were not), it doesn't understand that Slovenia was under the Habsburg Empire for 600 years and not only 100 as Croatia (so was not for the split of the Hungarian and Austrian power that Slovenia tends to considerate itself more westernized) and it's not true that Northern Italy is embracing the nostalgia of "Mitteleuropa", just three cities as Bolzano, Trieste and Gorizia that were under Austrian Empire for 500 years...and Lega Nord has nothing to do with it, on the contrary it is considered an enemy for every mitteleuropean. So...some considerations are wrong maybe because he doesn't know the context.

[Dainius Jocas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Įdomus skaitinys. Knygoje radau labai aušto abstrakcijos lygio Europos idėjos apžvalgą. Labai įdomūs buvo istoriniai momentai. Tekstas parodė įdomią perspektyvą bei atvėrė naujus horizontus galvojant apie pamatinius klausimus, kas po velniais yra ta Europa ir kas įtakoja jos sprendimus bei problemas. Tikėtina, kad atėjus laikui šią knygą atsiversiu dar kartą.

Vienas dalykas, kuris man kelia nerimą, yra tai, kad knygoje istoriniai momentai pateikiami deklaratyviai ir gana vienareikšmiškai. Todėl tikėtina, jog fakto klaidų ir pernelyg grubių supaprastinimų nebuvo išvengta.

[Ariane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delanty goes through the history of Europe, building on an European identity based on the legacy of Christianity and the construction of "the Other" as a common enemy. You may think that he abuses a bit of making everything fit into his thesis, but it's undeniable that the book provides a great account of European history through the lenses of what Europe has meant for European society since the age of the ancient empires. I definetely enjoyed the reading.

[Ann Saks]

Delanty certainly does give a lot to think about on the idea of Europe.