Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox

The crisis of the European Union is partially linked to the fact that it has not become an identity referent for the European citizens. This is a crucial issue because the revival of European integration could precisely be based on the abilityof Europeans to take ownership of the European construct...

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Main Authors: Yann RICHARD, Sylvain KAHN
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association of Geographers 2020-09-01
Series:European Journal of Geography
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/120
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author Yann RICHARD
Sylvain KAHN
author_facet Yann RICHARD
Sylvain KAHN
author_sort Yann RICHARD
collection DOAJ
description The crisis of the European Union is partially linked to the fact that it has not become an identity referent for the European citizens. This is a crucial issue because the revival of European integration could precisely be based on the abilityof Europeans to take ownership of the European construction. We set out two hypotheses: first that the weakness of the EU is intrinsic to the way it is constructed as a territory from one day to the next; second that the EU cannot be an object of social representation shared by European citizens. We show that the territoriality of the EU is ambiguous. We then define the EU as a particular type of political construction, in which pooling mechanisms render the relationship between territory and sovereignty hard to read. Finally, we show that Europeans are not able to produce a common territorial reference
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publisher European Association of Geographers
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spelling doaj-art-5845e0640c28403d9bf4a03b461ac4cc2025-08-20T02:51:18ZengEuropean Association of GeographersEuropean Journal of Geography1792-13412410-74332020-09-01111Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial ParadoxYann RICHARDSylvain KAHN The crisis of the European Union is partially linked to the fact that it has not become an identity referent for the European citizens. This is a crucial issue because the revival of European integration could precisely be based on the abilityof Europeans to take ownership of the European construction. We set out two hypotheses: first that the weakness of the EU is intrinsic to the way it is constructed as a territory from one day to the next; second that the EU cannot be an object of social representation shared by European citizens. We show that the territoriality of the EU is ambiguous. We then define the EU as a particular type of political construction, in which pooling mechanisms render the relationship between territory and sovereignty hard to read. Finally, we show that Europeans are not able to produce a common territorial reference https://www.eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/120Territoriality, territory, regimes of territoriality, sovereignty, European Union
spellingShingle Yann RICHARD
Sylvain KAHN
Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
European Journal of Geography
Territoriality, territory, regimes of territoriality, sovereignty, European Union
title Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
title_full Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
title_fullStr Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
title_full_unstemmed Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
title_short Unthought and Unrepresentable? The European Territorial Paradox
title_sort unthought and unrepresentable the european territorial paradox
topic Territoriality, territory, regimes of territoriality, sovereignty, European Union
url https://www.eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/120
work_keys_str_mv AT yannrichard unthoughtandunrepresentabletheeuropeanterritorialparadox
AT sylvainkahn unthoughtandunrepresentabletheeuropeanterritorialparadox