Seeing Europe through the Nation

The Role of National Self-Images in the Perception of European Integration in the English, German, and Dutch Press in the 1950s and 1990s

Sven Leif Ragnat de Roode

• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9783515102223
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

Sven Leif Ragnar de Roode analyzes Dutch, English, and German perceptions of European integration against the backdrop of dominant elements of national self-images in a comparative perspective. The study is based on a source sample of more than 1200 newspaper editorials about the founding treaties of the European Communities in the 1950s and the Treaty on European Union from 1992/3. The source analysis is framed by an analysis of dominant, publicly acknowledged national self-images in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century. The representation of European integration in Dutch, English, and German newspapers shows that both, the perception of Europe and national self-images, were essentially contested. It demonstrates how nationalised the gaze unto Europe was. The perception of Europe was tinted and judged by national self-images. The discourse on European integration was inseparably intertwined with the discourse on the nation. Europe was essentially thought 'through' the nation.

Table of contents

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• CONTENTS
• ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
• RÉSUMÉ
• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. NATIONAL SELF-IMAGES AND PUBLICLY-ACKNOWLEDGED REMEMBRANCE IN ENGLAND, GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS
• 3. THE PERCEPTION OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN THE ENGLISH, GERMAN AND DUTCH PRESS: COUNTRY BY COUNTRY ANALYSES
• 4. THE PERCEPTION OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN THE ENGLISH, GERMAN AND DUTCH PRESS: A COMPARISON OF THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL SELF-PERCEPTIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ZUR REIHE „STUDIEN ZUR GESCHICHTE DER EUROPÄISCHEN INTEGRATION“
• ABOUT THE SERIES “STUDIES ON THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION”
• CONCERNANT LA SÉRIE „ETUDES SUR L’HISTOIRE DE L’INTÉGRATION EUROPÉENNE“