Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:35:19.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Conclusion - Good Europeans?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2021

Shane Weller
Affiliation:
University of Kent, Canterbury
Get access

Summary

Surveying the history of the idea of Europe from its origins to the present day reveals a profoundly troubling pattern, namely that, all too often, seemingly progressive ideas of Europe have been shaped by Eurocentric, culturally supremacist, and even racist assumptions. Even the championing of rationality, justice, democracy, individual freedom, secularism, and tolerance as what Tzvetan Todorov terms “European values” can contribute to this Eurocentric and Euro-supremacist tendency. The Conclusion reflects upon the challenge posed by such a history, and argues against the longstanding conviction that a cosmopolitan idea of Europe is diametrically opposed to what thinkers such as Denis de Rougemont dismiss as an “anti-European” nationalism. Rather, it is essential to acknowledge that throughout its history the idea of Europe has been for the most part Eurocentric, Euro-supremacist, and Euro-universalist. If the idea of Europe is to warrant any future, it must be shaped by a spirit of self-critique and by an openness to those cultures that have for so long been dismissed as non-European. That, the Conclusion argues, is the key lesson to be learned from the history of the idea of Europe across two and a half millennia.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Idea of Europe
A Critical History
, pp. 269 - 281
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Good Europeans?
  • Shane Weller, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: The Idea of Europe
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784252.012
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Good Europeans?
  • Shane Weller, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: The Idea of Europe
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784252.012
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Good Europeans?
  • Shane Weller, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: The Idea of Europe
  • Online publication: 14 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108784252.012
Available formats
×