A cosmopolitan temptation

Schlesinger, P. (2007) A cosmopolitan temptation. European Journal of Communication, 22(4), pp. 413-426. (doi: 10.1177/0267323107083059)

Abstract

For some, the transnationalization of political action and communicative space in the European Union heralds an emergent cosmopolitan order. Need that be so? There are supranational institutions in the EU as well as transnational political and cultural spaces and cross-border communicative flows. However, the Union's member states remain key controllers of citizenship rights and purveyors of collective identities. And for many purposes they still maintain strongly bounded national public spheres. Because the EU's overall character as a polity remains unresolved, this has consequences for the organization of communicative spaces. The EU is a field of tensions and contradictions that is inescapably rooted in institutional realities. Wishful thinking about cosmopolitanism can get in the way of clear analysis.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: collective identity, cosmopolitanism, European Union, nation, public sphere, state
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Schlesinger, Professor Philip
• Authors: Schlesinger, P.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General); J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: European Journal of Communication
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 0267-3231
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2007 SAGE
• First Published: First published in European Journal of Communication 22(4):413-426
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.