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European communion : political theory of European union

Manners, Ian LU orcid (2013) In Journal of European Public Policy 20(4). p.473-494
Abstract
Political theory of European union, through an engagement between political concepts and theoretical understandings, provides a means of identifying the EU as a political object. It is argued that understanding the projects, processes and products of European union, based on ‘sharing’ or ‘communion’, provides a better means of perceiving the EU as a political object rather than terms such as ‘integration’ or ‘co-operation’. The concept of ‘European communion’ is defined as the ‘subjective sharing of relationships’, understood as the extent to which individuals or groups believe themselves to be sharing relations (or not), and the consequences of these beliefs for European political projects, processes and products. By exploring European... (More)
Political theory of European union, through an engagement between political concepts and theoretical understandings, provides a means of identifying the EU as a political object. It is argued that understanding the projects, processes and products of European union, based on ‘sharing’ or ‘communion’, provides a better means of perceiving the EU as a political object rather than terms such as ‘integration’ or ‘co-operation’. The concept of ‘European communion’ is defined as the ‘subjective sharing of relationships’, understood as the extent to which individuals or groups believe themselves to be sharing relations (or not), and the consequences of these beliefs for European political projects, processes and products. By exploring European communion through an engagement with contemporary political theory, using very brief illustrations from the Treaty of Lisbon, the article also suggests that European communion embraces three different readings of the EU as a political object – the EU as a constellation of communities; as a cosmopolitan space; and as an example of cosmopolitical co-existence. In other words, the political object of European union may be identified as sharing ‘European communion’. (Less)
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author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
European communion, communion, political theory, European Union, European integration, cosmopolitical
in
Journal of European Public Policy
volume
20
issue
4
article number
1
pages
22 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:84875971728
ISSN
1350-1763
DOI
10.1080/13501763.2012.699664
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
a5ecc961-3314-4a6a-8885-f85c0e7bcab3
date added to LUP
2021-03-15 17:17:08
date last changed
2022-03-26 18:40:18
@article{a5ecc961-3314-4a6a-8885-f85c0e7bcab3,
  abstract     = {{Political theory of European union, through an engagement between political concepts and theoretical understandings, provides a means of identifying the EU as a political object. It is argued that understanding the projects, processes and products of European union, based on ‘sharing’ or ‘communion’, provides a better means of perceiving the EU as a political object rather than terms such as ‘integration’ or ‘co-operation’. The concept of ‘European communion’ is defined as the ‘subjective sharing of relationships’, understood as the extent to which individuals or groups believe themselves to be sharing relations (or not), and the consequences of these beliefs for European political projects, processes and products. By exploring European communion through an engagement with contemporary political theory, using very brief illustrations from the Treaty of Lisbon, the article also suggests that European communion embraces three different readings of the EU as a political object – the EU as a constellation of communities; as a cosmopolitan space; and as an example of cosmopolitical co-existence. In other words, the political object of European union may be identified as sharing ‘European communion’.}},
  author       = {{Manners, Ian}},
  issn         = {{1350-1763}},
  keywords     = {{European communion; communion; political theory; European Union; European integration; cosmopolitical}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{473--494}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Journal of European Public Policy}},
  title        = {{European communion : political theory of European union}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2012.699664}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13501763.2012.699664}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}