St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • French
  • French Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • French
  • French Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Modern Languages (School of)
  • French
  • French Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The formation of a European identity through a transnational public sphere? The case of three Western European cultural journals, 1989-2006

Thumbnail
View/Open
TessaHauswedellPhDThesis.pdf (1.553Mb)
Date
30/11/2009
Author
Hauswedell, Tessa C.
Supervisor
Gifford, Paul
Moore, Greg
Keywords
European public sphere
European identity
Cultural journals
Intellectuals
Habermas
France
Great Britain
Germany
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Abstract
This thesis analyses processes of discursive European identity formation in three cultural journals: Esprit, from France, the British New Left Review and the German Merkur during the time periods 1989-92, and, a decade later, during 2003-06. The theoretical framework which the thesis brings to bear on this analysis is that of the European Public Sphere. This model builds on Jürgen Habermas’s original model of a “public sphere”, and alleges that a sphere of common debate about issues of European concern can lead to a more defined and integrated sense of a European identity which is widely perceived as vague and inchoate. The relevancy of the public sphere model and its connection to the larger debate about European identity, especially since 1989, are discussed in the first part of the thesis. The second part provides a comparative analysis of the main European debates in the journals during the respective time periods. It outlines the mechanisms by which identity is expressed and assesses when, and to what extent, shared notions of European identity emerge. The analysis finds that identity formation does not occur through a developmental, gradual convergence of views as the European public sphere model envisages. Rather, it is brought about in much more haphazard back-and-forth movements. Moreover, shared notions of European identity between all the journals only arise in moments of perceived crises. Such crises are identified as the most salient factor which galvanizes expressions of a common, shared sense of European identity across national boundaries and ideological cleavages. The thesis concludes that the model of the EPS is too dependent on a partial view of how identity formation occurs and should thus adopt a more nuanced understanding about the complex factors that are at play in these processes. For the principled attempt to circumscribe identity formation as the outcome of communicative processes alone is likely to be thwarted by external events.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Collections
  • French Theses
  • German Theses
  • Modern Languages Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/789

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter