Summary SEMINAR TEXTS WEEK 1-6 National Thought In Europe
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Grado
National Thought In Europe
Institución
Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
In depth summary of all the texts from week 1-6 (national thought)
-background author
-main arguments
-relevance texts
Also with a short dutch summary in the end (which you can translate) and here and there dutch translations of difficult terms.
NATIONAL THOUGHT
Tentamen voorbereiding
Let’s fuckin do this
CONTENT (Inhoud)
- Summaries of all texts from every week
- Important notes and links
- English, but at the end of the text a small Dutch summary
- Clear Overview of what you have to remember
- Perfect prep for the exam
wat moet ik leren?
- het bewustzijn van Europa als een transnationale culturele eenheid en een
geografische en ideologisch gebied met zowel verschillen als overeenkomsten;
- inzicht in de opkomst en ontwikkeling van de diversiteit van het Europese culturele
landschap sinds de late middeleeuwen;
- bewustzijn van de dynamiek tussen cultuur en politiek, en de complexiteit van
historische verschijnselen en ontwikkelingen;
- bewustzijn van het moderne Europa als omstreden idee;
- Europa begrijpen als een conglomeraat van natiestaten en complexe transnationale
processen;
- de gevolgen van nationalisme en nationaal denken begrijpen;
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,samenvatting teksten (summaries texts)
(1) the idea of europe (John McCormick)2014
-hij is een specialist on the politics en beleid on the european union en over wat europese
identiteit is. Het idee van europa is verdeeld in twee stukken. het eerste stuk gaat over wat
europa nou precies is. wat betekent het om europees te zijn, wat is eu identiteit en welke
factoren het zijn. Zijn hele punt is dat europa hard to define is. This is due to its
complicated history, unclear geographical boundaries, as well as messy politics and cultural
differences according to location. he also argues that in order to determine how to best go
about European integration, we first need to understand what Europe as an idea means.
Europeans may need to find themselves in relation to others which means that they Focus
more on what sets them apart from other cultures rather than what brings them together.
The continuous Wars and conflicts between European countries obviously didn't help that
either.
Mccormick introduces another important concept here, which is: Europeanism: it sounds
super abstract, but it basically refers to the support for the process of European
integration it's second meaning in compasses the Shared values and ideals of the
Europeans like multiculturalism, in the rule of law, human rights, democracy, capitalism
and social issues. you should take these so-called European characteristics typical of
Europeans with a grain of salt. Its Good to think about: to what extent these values have
been imposed and did not actually naturally form within European societies. Just ask
yourself: is this how Europeans feel about being European? and is this what Europe stands
for? in practise is there more to the story than an ideal Vision on what Europe means? Now
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,that's a complicated question of course but it generally helps to assess which arguments
you believe have value.
After introducing these concepts the text proceeds to deal with a quick history of how the
term “Europe” has evolved over the centuries and I'll summarize it a bit here.
The idea of Europe is believed to have started somewhere around the early middle ages
and by the 15th century it was used more and more by scholars. It was however always
associated with the idea of Christianity. clearly having one common religion plays a huge
part in determining what makes up being ‘European’. The Renaissance bought with a shift
away from the church, as people were becoming more and more individualistic. during the
French Revolution the idea of Europe was explored by important thinkers who mentioned
for the first time the concept of Unity → in order to achieve peace on the continent.
Slowly the idea of Europe has become an political ideal, but up until the Cold War, Europe
was generally characterised by conflict between its own States. being caught between two
superpowers: the US in the US are European States and their people felt the need to co-
operate and Discover shared interest. In other words they chose to focus on what brings
them together rather than what sets them apart.
With this new discovery of similarity on several levels (political, economic or social)
Europeanism can be seen as two things: encouraging the idea of European integration and
also emphasising the common values the Europeans share. Whatever form that might
take.
focus on the different processes that lead to understanding of Europe today.
In the first part of the text, McCormick talked about what Europe is and how unclear the
borders are, especially in the east. Normally the borders are considered to be Ural
mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea and the Bosphorus
Strait and of course the Mediterranean Sea in the Atlantic ocean. So as these borders are
taken into account, that would be 40 countries in Europe, of which there are 27 European
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, Union countries, however, the limits remain unclear and can depend on one’s own
perspective and could include different states.
So let's go over the most important points just one more time:
After the Cold War, people's loyalty was transferred more towards Europe and became
less focused on National States and identities. While research shows that there are
common values and opinions across the EU regarding social and economic issues, the
characteristics of a common European identity has still not been set in stone. McCormick
argues that Europeans generally try more and more to integrate and find out what they
have in common, rather than what sets them apart.
So: what is the relevance of this article? McCormick is still an important figure in the
current debate, concerning Europe, its organization and identity and how these form. He is
also a promoter of the idea of Europe and the European Union. An important question to
ask is: what consequences does this have on his writing when dealing with academic text?
you should always be critical of the authors that you're reading as they’re never bias-free.
Regarding “the idea of Europe” itself, the most relevant aspect is that it shows how fluid
the idea of what Europe and being European is. It also evolves over time and is influenced
by academic, cultural, political, etc factors.
the main points that we made first discusses what Europe means and how the concept
evolved over time? secondly, he argues how fuzzy the borders of the continent are and
how difficult it is to map down just where it actually begins and ends (geographically and
conceptionally). finally we talked about the importance of the text and what lessons you
can draw from critically thinking about it .
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