Conference Review 

European Union And World Politics: Consensus And Division

28-29 March 2008

This workshop formed the sixth and final series of a network, Strategic Elites and European Enlargement, supported by the British Academy (Principal Investigator David Lane). The objectives of this workshop were to consider the wider implications of the enlargement of the European Union in the context of world politics.  

Fifteen papers were presented by academics with an international reputation. A keynote address was given by Mr Andrew Duff, the leader of the UK Liberal Democratic European Parliamentary Party. All papers were prepared and circulated in advance and were made available on the CRASSH website, under the title of the name of the event.

The contributions were grouped and discussed under five main areas: the European Union and Significant Others (Russia, China and USA); Divisions within Europe in the Context of European Enlargement; The EU and Foreign Policy; the Political Economy of Europe and Whither the European Union? Three papers were presented on each topic.

The papers indicated that there was more ?division' and conflict than consensus and harmony. Nation states are still very important players and the EU is far from forming a political unit capable of competing militarily, politically and economically with the United States. Nation states also are able to resist to a considerable degree the homogenising effects of European Union policy. It seems unlikely that a European Union identity will evolve in the near future and some evidence was presented showing an increasing ?Euro scepticism' by citizens of the EU, though this is in contrast
to the attitudes of the political elites.

The proceedings of the workshop will be published by Palgrave/Macmillan in a book edited by Andrew Gamble and David Lane entitled The European Union and World Politics.

David Lane (SPS, Cambridge)

 

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