Title of Teaching Unit:
Boundaries of the Europe
Contributor(s)/Partner Institution:
European Institute , Lodz, Poland,
Partner No7
Author: Dr Marcin Szewczyk
(1) Seminar outline:
(topic, relevance and actuality, main schools of thought and debates; max. 350 words)
The term of “Boundaries of Europe” seems to have both a very large and indefinite meaning.
It looks for clarification because its unclearness results in misunderstandings of not only
intellectual but political consequences linked with the potential further enlargements. That is
why the crucial problem to be discussed and answered is: Are the boundaries of Europe
geographic, cultural, ethnic, economic, political or of the mere mental character?
Within this course the Europe’s borders are presented from to the multidimensional and
interdisciplinary perspectives, namely the anthropological, sociological, historical and political
ones. The boundaries of Europe are not clear-cut neither obvious. One can ask whether and
what from they are separating us. These doubts – in the context of the community widening
process can point out to the number of interdependencies between the boundaries of
European and those of European integration. Referring to the enclosed European space we
should also consider the boundaries appearing in Europe thanks to the existence of the
ethnic minorities. So, defining the borders of European may be seen as constant seeking for
explicit criteria that can point out the furthest possible reach of Europe.
First amongst them are the geopolitical and religious tradition criteria. Often neglected, an
important criterion is also the scope of common legal tradition – acquis europeen. The
potential reach of Europe is determined by the readiness to accept the legal system rooted in
European culture. So, The course takes into account the historical range of European
borders shaping together with the moving of civilisations centres and historical delimitation of
Europe by her inhabitants. This in turn implies pointing out to Occidentalism and to Europe’s
borders as seen by her neighbours. The very question of identity or self-identification being
sufficient or not for defining the borders of Europe brings us beyond the anthropological and
civilisation domain into the institutional systems area. While moving inside the identity and
boundaries definition sphere one should be aware of the risks of creating and maintaining
them in the way exceeding the actual needs. This may lead to development of nationalist
movements. The closest regional is the factor that may constitute the element of first and
primary identification and at the same time the means for defining the boundaries of one’s
own Europe. However, the strengthening of authorities/governance Europe-wide on federal
level reinforces not only the identity sphere but also the area of identification and upholds the
externally seen border.
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(2) Learning targets
(teaching aims and methods, value added/qualification; max. 150 words)
Each of the sessions should be two-fold and conducted simultaneously in the form of
lectures and complementary workshops.
In some cases the workshops would be limited only to work with documentary/bibliographic
sources, in other cases they could be conducted in the form of discussion. Very important is
own experience of the students.
The aim of the course is making the students arrive at understanding of anthropological
dimension of Europe’s idea and her borders. The students should be ready to undertake on
their own a discussion to “defend” the values constituting the basis of European civilisation.
In methodological terms we should use the experience of anthropology of culture and from
multidimensional analysis of the issues – numerous links between the elements under
consideration. Such an effect can be attained by the use of basis elements of structuralist
methodology.
(3) Literature List
Charles Zorgbibe, Histoire de l'Union européenne, Fondation Robert Schuman, Paris 2005
Massimo Cacciari, Geo-filosofia dell'Europa, Adelphi Milano 1994
Responses to the Challenges of Globalisation, A Study on the International Monetary and
Financial System and on Financing for Development, European Commission, “European
Economy” 2002, No. 1, Special Report.
European Commission. Directorate General for Research Citizens and governance in a
knowledge-based society, The Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe: reflection group
initiated by the President of the European Commission and coordinated by the Institute for
Human Sciences: concluding remarks by Kurt Biedenkopf, Bronislaw Geremek and Krzysztof
Michalski, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg 2005
Maurizio Lupoi, The origins of the European legal order, Cambridge University Press, New
York 1999
Norman Davies, Europe: a history, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 1996
Gerard Delany, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality, Mcmillan Pres Ltd, London 1995
Jean-François Bayart, The illusion of Cultural Identity, C. Hurst & Company, London-Paris
2005
Sławomir Magala, Cross-cultural competence, Routledge, Amsterdam 2005
Keebet von Benda-Beckman, Maykel Verkuyten (ed), Nationalism, ethnicity and cultural
identity in Europe, European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations, Utrecht
University, Utrecht 1995
Denis de Rougemont, Dictionnaire international du fédéralisme, François Saint-Ouen (ed),
Bruylant, Bruxelles 1994
(4) Seminar structure
Session No. 1
Topic
Defining the boundaries of Europe – what for?
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Are external boundaries strengthening or weakening the limited territory?
Guiding
Migrations into Europe – do they have positive influence on Europe’s unity?
question(s) Is Europe’s unity rooted in its territorial limits and clear cut borders?
Basic
reading
Europe – does it exist or needs to be created?
Charles Zorgbibe, Histoire de la construction européenne, Presses
Universitaires de France, Paris 1993
Gerard Delany, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality, Mcmillan Pres Ltd,
London 1995
Norman Davies, Europe: a history, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York
1996
Jan Zielonka (ed), Europe unbound: enlarging and reshaping the boundaries
of the European Union, Routledge, London-New York 2002
Session No. 2
Topic
Boundaries of Europe and the boundaries of European integration?
How to define Europeanness?
Does European integration have fixed borders?
Guiding
What does the scope/span of European integration depend on?
question(s) Does integration create Europe?
Membership-Association – Neighbourhood Policy – are these concentric
circles?
Charles Zorgbibe, Histoire de l'Union européenne, Fondation Robert
Schuman, Paris 2005
Denis de Rougemont, The idea of Europe, Macmillan, New York 1966
Richard Hoggart, Douglas Johnson, An idea of Europe, Chatto & Windus,
Basic
London 1987
reading
Andrzej Harasimowicz, The European Neighbourhood Policy of the European
Union after Enlargement 2004: Empire with a Human Face?, [in] Après
Enlargement: Legal and Political Response in Central and Eastern Europe,
European University Institute, Florence 2006.
Session No. 3
Topic
Ethnic borders within Europe
Is Europe a civilisation unity?
Guiding
Is a strong external border the only uniting force for Europe’s diversities?
question(s) Which ethnic and national minorities are most destabilising for the picture of
Basic
reading
one Europe?
W. Douglass, Basque Politics: a case study in ethnic nationalism, University of
Nevada Press, Reno, 1985, str. 149.
J. A. Junco, Spain: A product of incomplete nation-building, [w:] European
Nation and Nationalism, Theorical and historical perspective, (red.) L.
Hagendoom, G. Csepeli, H. Dekker, R. Farmen, Ashgate, Brookfield 2000, str.
189.
G. J. Bereciartu, Ideologia y strategia politica de ETA. Analisis de su evolution
entre 1959 y 1968., Siglo XXI de Espańa Editores, Madrid, 1985
T. G. Jordan, The European culture area: a systematic geography, Rowman &
Littlefield, Lanham 2002
Farimah Daftary, Stefan Troebst (ed), Radical ethnic movements in
contemporary Europe, Berghahn Books, New York 2003.
Carmel Camilleri (ed), Difference and Cultures in Europe, Council of Europe,
Strasbourg 1995
Massimo Cacciari, Geo-filosofia dell'Europa, Adelphi Milano 1994
Session No. 4
3
Topic
Political and economic conditioning of Europe’s borders in the global system
What factors are determining the political scope of Europe’s borders?
To what extent the economic and political bonds determine the definition of
Guiding
Europe and her membership?
question(s) How does the foreign policy of member states determine the range of Europe?
Are the boundaries of European economic system the real borders of Europe?
M. Waters, Globalisation, London-New York 1996
M. Bordo, B. Eichengreen, D.A. Irwin, Is Globalisation Today Really Different
Than Globalisation a Hundred Years Ago?, National Bureau of Economic
Research, “Working Paper” 1999, No. 7185.
P.O. Hirst, G. F. Thompson, Globalisation in Question: The International
Economy and the Possibilities for Governance, Polity Press, Cambridge 1999.
Responses to the Challenges of Globalisation, A Study on the International
Basic
Monetary and Financial System and on Financing for Development, European
Commission, “European Economy” 2002, No. 1, Special Report.
reading
R. Jackson, G. Sorensen, Introduction to International relations. Theories and
Approaches, Oxford University Press, New York 2003.
A.F. Burghardt, Boundaries: setting limits to political areas, [in] C. Earle, K.
Mathewson & M.S. Kenzer (eds.), Concepts in Human Geography, Rowman &
Littlefield, Lanham 1996
Keith Middlemas, Orchestrating Europe: the informal politics of the European
Union 1973-95, Fontana, London 1995
Session No. 5
Topic
Geopolitical range – a story of geographical environment impact?
What makes the European space unique and identifiable?
Guiding
What are the geographical borders of Europe?
question(s) Do geographical borders influence the current shape of borders in Europe?
Basic
reading
A.F. Burghardt, The Core Concept in Political Geography: a Definition of
Therms, “Canadian Geographer”, 1969, 63.
K.R. Cox, Political Geography, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2002.
R. Muir, Modern Political Geography, Wiley, London 1981
R.A. Butlin, R.A. Dodgshon (eds), An historical geography of Europe,
Clarendon Press-Oxford University Press, New York-Oxford 1998
Norman John Greville Pounds, Political Geography, McGraw-Hill, New York
1963
Immanuel Wallerstein, Geopolitics and geoculture: essays on the changing
world-system, Cambridge University Press-Editions de la Maison des
Sciences de l'Homme, Cambridge-New York-Paris 1991
Norman Davies, Europe: a history, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York
1996
Session No. 6
Topic
Religion – the toughest element of culture of clear-cut borders
In what categories can we speak about Europe’s spiritual unity?
Guiding
Did religions whenever decide about Europe’s borders?
question(s) What is the religion’s role in determining any kind of borders?
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Basic
reading
Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, Dieter Langewiesche (Eds.), Nation und Religion in
Europa: mehrkonfessionelle Gesellschaften im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert,
Campus, Frankfurt 2004
Norman Davies, Europe: a history, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York
1996
Giovanni Paolo II, L'evangelizzazione èl'identità più profonda della Chiesa,
Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, 1981, t. 2, 1, p. 293-297
Jacques Le Goff, The birth of Europe, Blackwell, Malden 2005
Giovanni Paolo II, Europa, finda il tuo futuro sulla veità dell'uoma e spalanca le
tue porte alla solidarietà universale, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, 1985, t.
2, 1, p. 1578-1588
European Commission. Directorate General for Research Citizens and
governance in a knowledge-based society, The Spiritual and Cultural
Dimension of Europe: reflection group initiated by the President of the
European Commission and coordinated by the Institute for Human Sciences:
concluding remarks by Kurt Biedenkopf, Bronislaw Geremek and Krzysztof
Michalski, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,
Luxembourg 2005
Session No. 7
Topic
European legal tradition – acquis europea
To what extent European legal systems constitute a coherent system?
Guiding
Is readiness to accept the acquis europea sufficient for becoming Europe?
question(s) Which of the traditional legal system is the one most representative for
Basic
reading
Europe?
Maurizio Lupoi, The origins of the European legal order, Cambridge University
Press, New York 1999
Hans Kelsen, Pure theory of law, Peter Smith, Gloucester 1989
Daniela Piana, Constitutional Cultures in the New MemberStates: Between
Tradition and Europeanisation, [in] Après Enlargement: Legal and Political
Response in Central and Eastern Europe, European University Institute,
Florence 2006.
Inger-Johanne Sand, Changing forms of governance and the role of law:
Society and its law, ARENA, Oslo 2000
Antonio Padoa-Schioppa (ed), Legislation and justice, Clarendon Press-Oxford
University Press, Oxford-New York 1997
Norbert Rouland, Introduction historique au droit, Presses universitaires de
France, Paris 1998
Session No. 8
Topic
Historical determinants of being Europe
What factors have reinforced the shaping of European self-awareness?
Guiding
question(s) To what extent the Middle Ages influenced the range of Europe?
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Basic
reading
Johan Huizinga, The autumn of the Middle Ages, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago 1996
Franco Cardini, Europe and Islam, Oxford 2001, Blackwell
J. R. Roux, Les explorateurs au Moyen Age, Fayard 1995
R. W. Southern, The making of the middle Ages, Yale University Press, New
Haven 1953
Norman John Greville Pounds, An economic history of medieval Europe,
Longman, London 1974
Norman Davies, Europe: a history, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York
1996
R.I. Moore, The first European revolution, c. 970-1215, Blackwell, Oxford 2000
James P. Helfers (ed), Multicultural Europe and cultural exchange in the
Middle Ages and Renaissance, Brepols, Turnhout 2005
Session No. 9
Topic
Externally defined attractiveness of European space
Is occidentalism determining Europe’s boundaries?
Guiding
How to create profitable attractiveness of Europe?
question(s) What is the counterbalance for Europe in the world?
Basic
reading
Gerard Delany, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality, Mcmillan Pres Ltd,
London 1995
T. J. Pempel, Democracy in Japan, [w:] Japan, A new kind of superpower?,
ed. C. Garby, M. Brown Bullock, Baltimore-London.
Denis de Rougemont, L'aventure occidentale de l'homme, Albin Michel, Paris
1957
Benjamin R. Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, Ballantine Books, New York 1996
Larbi Sadiki, The search for Arab democracy: discourses and counterdiscourses, Hurst, London 2004
S. Amin, Eurocetrism, Monthly Review Press, New York 1989
Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit, Occidentalism: the West in the eyes of its
enemies, Penguin Press, New York 2004
Session No. 10
Topic
European identity and self-identification – categories of the own and the
other/the alien
Where are we at ourselves?
Guiding
How far the space in which we are not aliens reaches?
question(s) What constitutes the border that separates us from the others/aliens?
Is democracy a factor contributing to society’s development?
6
Basic
reading
Gerard Delany, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality, Mcmillan Pres Ltd,
London 1995
Jean-François Bayart, The illusion of Cultural Identity, C. Hurst & Company,
London-Paris 2005
Étienne Balibar, We, the people of Europe?: reflections on transnational
citizenship, Princeton University Press, Princeton 2004
Marshall Sahlins, Culture in practice: selected essays, Zone Books, New York
2000
Clifford Geertz, Savoir local, savoir global: les lieux du savoir, Presses
Universitaires de France, Paris 1986
Sławomir Magala, Cross-cultural competence, Routledge, Amsterdam 2005
Engin F. Isin, Patricia K. Wood, Citizenship and identity, SAGE, LOndon 1999
Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Eastern enlargement of the European
Union and the identity of Europe, [in] Peter Mair, Jan Zielonka (eds) The
enlarged European Union: diversity and adaptation, Frank Cass, LondonPortland 2002
Session No. 11
Topic
The dangers of too intensive boundaries – nationalisms
What is the interdependence between economic problems and development of
nationalisms in Europe?
Guiding
The consequences of nationalists movements in European history
question(s) What are main risks of nationalists ideologies development?
Is nationalism a reaction against migrations?
Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (New Perspectives on the Past),
Cornell University Press 1983.
T.R. Gurr, Minority AT Pisk: A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts, US
Institute of Peace, Washington DC 1993
Charter of the Fundamental Rights
W. Connor, Ethnonationalism. The Quest for Understanding, Princenton
University Press, Princenton 1994.
Ernest Gellner, Encounters with nationalism, Blackwell, Oxford-Cambridge
Basic
1994
Theo Veenkamp, Tom Bentley, Alessandra Buonfino, People flow: managing
reading
migration in a new European commonwealth, Demos, London 2003
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Schocken Books, New York
2004
Charles A. Kupchan (ed), Nationalism and nationalities in the New Europe,
Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1995
Keebet von Benda-Beckman, Maykel Verkuyten (ed.), Nationalism, ethnicity
and cultural identity in Europe, European Research Centre on Migration and
Ethnic Relations, Utrecht University, Utrecht 1995
Session No. 12
Topic
Internal and external borders – region and federation
Does progressing regionalisation reinforce identification on European level?
Guiding
Would strengthening of federal type authority make the Europe’s borders
question(s) clearer?
Does federal level identification dominate over regional identification?
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Basic
reading
Ferdinand Graf Kinsky, Föderalismus: ein Weg aus der Europakrise, Europa
Union, Bonn 1986
Frederick Quinn (ed), The Federalist Papers. Reader, Seven Locks Press
1993 Denis de Rougemont, Lettres aux deputes europeens, Ides et Calendes,
Paris 1950
Denis de Rougemont, Dictionnaire international du fédéralisme, François
Saint-Ouen (ed), Bruylant, Bruxelles 1994
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