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How has it been possible for Irish political leaders to not just accept but actively promote two of the largest challenges to Irish nation-statehood: the concession of sovereignty to the European Union (EU) and the retraction of the constitutional claim over Northern Ireland? This book argues that, rather than indicating a pragmatic retreat, such decisions (and their justification on the public stage) reveal the unique power and enduring relevance of nationalism to Irish and European politics today. As a detailed study of official discourse in twentieth-century Ireland, it traces the ways in which nationalism can be simultaneously redefined and revitalised through European integration. The text moves from an overview of the origins and development of Irish official nationalism to analyse the connections between its response to profound internal and external challenges to Irish nation-statehood. The genius of the Irish approach to such challenges has been to employ innovative EU-inspired concepts in finding agreement with and within Northern Ireland, whilst simultaneously legitimising further European integration on the grounds that it fulfils traditional nationalist ideals. Thus, Irish political leaders have been successful in not only accommodating potent nationalist and pro-European discourses, but in making them appear complementary. The book concludes with an assessment of likely changes in this symbiotic relationship in the post-EU enlargement, post-Celtic Tiger era.
A much-needed monograph of one of the most unpopular and criticised thinkers in the history of political thought, Cuttica’s study provides an illuminating and innovative picture of Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) and patriarchalism. Appealing to a broad audience in the humanities, this thoroughly researched work will make an essential reading for all those interested in early modern politics and ideas.
This book explores Filmer’s patriarchalist theories in connection with seventeenth-century English and European political cultures. The nine chapters address a series of important questions regarding his oeuvre that have been hitherto ignored or, at best, left unanswered. Making use of unexplored primary material and adopting an innovative contextual reading of both Patriarcha’s composition (1620s-30s) and its publication (1680), this monograph has three main strengths. Firstly, it brings new light to Patriarcha’s ideas by unveiling ignored aspects of the context in which Filmer wrote; of its language, aims and targets; of its cultural and political meanings. Secondly, the book offers a novel reading of the patriarchalist discourse and its place in early modern political culture in England and Europe. In particular, Patriarcha serves as a prism through which to see the enduring importance of the languages of patriarchalism and patriotism during the Stuart era in England. Thirdly, it gives a timely and unique explanation of why Filmer’s doctrines were amply adopted as well as strongly contested in the 1680s.
The European Union (EU) has emerged as an important security actor qua actor, not only in the non-traditional areas of security, but increasingly as an entity with force projection capabilities. This book investigates how the concept of security relates to or deals with different categories of threat, explores the relationship between forms of coordination among states, international institutions, and the provision of European security and the execution of security governance. It also investigates whether the EU has been effective in realising its stated security objectives and those of its member states. The book commences with a discussion on the changing nature of the European state, the changing nature and broadening of the security agenda, and the problem of security governance in the European political space. There are four functional challenges facing the EU as a security actor: the resolution of interstate conflicts, the management of intrastate conflicts, state-building endeavours, and building the institutions of civil society. The book then examines policies of prevention, particularly the pre-emption of conflict within Europe and its neighbourhood. It moves on to examine policies of assurance, particularly the problem of peace-building in south-eastern Europe. EU's peace-building or sustaining role where there has been a violent interstate or intrastate conflict, especially the origins and performance of the Stability Pact, is discussed. Finally, the book looks at the policies of protection which capture the challenge of internal security.
Chapter 3 focuses on Spain’s relations with the European Community up until membership was achieved under the PSOE in 1986. The justification for including this material is that the PSOE – historically considered to be Spain’s most ‘European’ political party – considers the securing of Spain’s membership of the Community to be one of its greatest achievements in office. The imperatives imposed by European integration underpinned the PSOE’s policies throughout its entire period in government. Moreover, given that ‘Europeanisation’ became almost interchangeable with the term ‘modernisation’ in the party’s discourse under Gonzalez, this level of detail appears apposite.
As European politics, society, economy and religion underwent epoch-making changes between 1400 and 1600, the treatment of Europe's Jews by the non-Jewish majority was, then as in later periods, a symptom of social problems and tensions in the Continent as a whole. Through a broad-ranging collection of original documents, the book sets out to present a vivid picture of the Jewish presence in European life during this vital and turbulent period. This book discusses the history and background of the Jewish presence in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. As far as the late medieval Church was concerned, the basis for the treatment of Jews, by ecclesiastical and secular authorities, was to be found in the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council of the Roman Church, which were issued in 1215. The book is concerned with Jewish economic activities for their own sake, and Jews' financial relations with Christian rulers. It then concentrates on other aspects of the dealings which went on between European Jews and their Christian neighbours. The book includes the Jews' own economic presence and culture, social relations between Jews and Christians, the policies and actions of Christian authorities in Church and State. It draws upon original source material to convey ordinary people's prejudices about Jews, including myths about Jewish 'devilishness', money-grabbing, and 'ritual murder' of Christian children. Finally, the book demonstrates from the outset that much of the treatment of European Jews, in the period up to the Reformation and thereafter, was to be a practical result of the controversies within 'Christendom' on the subject of authority, whether ecclesiastical or secular.
This text charts the life span of the Austrofascist state that bracketed the critical phase of Hitler's ascendancy – from his ascent to chancellery in 1933 until the final stage of his pan-Germanism project, the annexation of Austria to the German Reich. In an effort to provide a wider background to the Austrian case, it seeks to grow beyond the most obvious and pervasive factor of Hitler's connection to Austria, and to establish Austria's alternative critical paradigms during this period, the dynamics of which intersected with processes and events occurring elsewhere in Europe. Specifically, the research question concerns discerning whether the Austrian regime was authoritarian or fascist. The solution is contingent upon appraising contemporary European political ideas and their dynamics within the Austrian realm. It also requires comprehending nationalism, a commonality between authoritarianism and fascism, in the context of practices and beliefs in Europe from the mid-nineteenth century until the inter-war period.
The study of European integration has in the past been plagued by the so-called sui generis problem: 'the EU is considered somehow beyond international relations, somehow a quasi-state or an inverted federation, or some other locution'. This chapter suggests one way of seeking theoretical parsimony without sacrificing the defining empirical knowledge which has been generated about Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) over the years. It argues that while the sui generis nature of CFSP presents an acute problem for international relations theory, it is less pronounced with regard to traditional integration theory. The chapter concludes that traditional neo-functionalist integration theory, while in some respects problematic when applied to intergovernmental cooperation, nevertheless provides the most promising basis for further theorising about CFSP. The key features of the original European political cooperation (EPC) framework are present in the provisions of the CFSP, despite the introduction of a number of 'federal detonators'.
The final section concludes the book. Grewal’s overall finding reinforces that the novel conception of the EU has informed Habermas’s political prescriptions as shown when considering both his scholarly writings and his political journalism. The concepts which were raised in the book are then briefly summarised by looking back at social and cultural modernity as part of the critical theory of European integration. The conclusion finally looks at ‘A (post)metaphysical mutation’; Grewal ultimately claims that Habermas’s conception of the EU was too narrowly disseminated and did not receive enough support. Grewal believes Habermas’s work can be used to address European politics but his theories alone cannot provide answers to the current complex problems which Europe faces. The richness of Habermas’s ideas is reinforced, however, due to the way they continue to be relevant in supporting ‘postmetaphysical’ interpretations. There is then an Afterword written by John Goff which reflects on the contents of the book and asks further questions.
This chapter examines one year, 1938, in the history of the British Red Cross (BRCS): a year that was not one of its most obviously eventful. Indeed, with devastating conflict raging in Europe, the BRCS, like the British Government, was notable for its non-intervention in Spain. Yet it did play a part in the high drama of European politics, advocating for international protocols on civilian protection in war, and acting as broker and facilitator between movements for civil defence and (territorial) military planning and Government departments at a time when the shadow of European war loomed large. Using the case study of the Red Cross International Conference held in London in June 1938, the local and national history of the BRCS is explored better to understand its relative state of non-intervention in the Spanish war, and how this related to the discourse on civilian protection and civil defence at home. How much the BRCS focused on these national priorities at a time of international crisis is a focal point of this chapter, which explores the broader question of how the Movement as a whole operated and avoided segmentation at this critical political juncture in the final years of peace.
, what I would call 'generic fields', such as the social field, have to be separated in terms of their properties from 'specialised fields', such as the European political field. Social fields will exist as long as human societies do. Consequently, generic social resources such as social capital, valid (to various degrees of course) in all areas of human activity and in all human societies, do not have the same properties as more specialised resources such as European political capital that exist only at certain times and in certain places. Generic resources also can