"Narratives of Europe, Narratives for Europe. What people in the EU member states really think of Europe!"
25. Juni 2019: Diskussionsbeiträge zur Türkei und Rumänien
Turkey, Prof. Dr. Ebru Turhan, Turkish-German University, Istanbul, Institute of Social Science
Romania, Prof. Dr. Lucian Dirdala, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi; Head of Centre for European Studies
Ort: Annex building Physics (326), Seminar Room 0.03, Tuesdays, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
In light of the elections for European Parliament, the University of Cologne is organising a lecture series on views on European Integration within the EU member states. We want to focus on the development of master narratives accompanying and supporting the individual countries’ way into and stance within the European Union.
Even recognizing the contribution of the Pan-European Movement since WWI and acknowledging the philanthropic motivation of many promoters of European Integration since WWII, the most powerful drivers of the European Integration process were common and individual political and economic interests of the single member states. These highly individual constellations of interests, combined with the respective national historical background, led to very different “master narratives”, which formed the backbone of public debate on the EU and European integration in the single member states. In this sense, narratives provide a simplified image of reality. Their analysis is based on the assumption that narratives play a critical role in the construction of political behaviour insofar as they affect our perceptions of political reality. They shape the cognitive and normative dimensions of problems in order to persuade and suggest what action should be taken. Moreover, they reflect the variety of emotional and affective dimensions of a European identity.
This lecture series attempts a survey of these different narratives across EU member states, focusing on both differences and common traits, inspired by the hope that an increased awareness of these narratives and expectations increases and improves mutual understanding within the EU.
Speakers from around Europe – mostly from traditional research-oriented Universities within the Coimbra Group, many of them Jean Monnet Chair holders – will contribute to this unique project.
Each session will consist of two presenters with talks of about 30 minutes each – one live speaker, one broadcasted via Internet from a Partner University – and will be concluded by a Q&A session based on comments and questions sent in by students from both real and virtual audiences.