Governing Europe's Spaces : European Union Re-imagined

Dominant visions have tended towards imagining Europe as an object - an entity of one sort or another. This book explores the different spaces of Europe/European Union (EU). The first part of the book presents research critically examining actor practices within familiar spaces of action - the European Parliament and the European Commission. It makes the case for the salience of research which distinguishes between spaces of 'frontstage' and 'backstage' politics and shows the interactions between the two. One cannot understand how EU gender mainstreaming policy really works unless one engages with the processes and actors involved. The second part presents research showing how, through their political work, a range of individuals and groups have sought to reconcile Europe with social representations of their industry or their nation to bring about change. It presents a case study of impact assessment of flatfish stocks in the North Sea, and contributes to the cross-fertilisation of Science and Technology Studies with a political sociology of the EU. The book shows how actors are pursuing regional interests, and the work they do in referencing Europe promotes agendas in the 'home' contexts of Scotland and canton Zurich. The final part of the book explores practices of EU government which either have been under-explored hitherto or are newly emerging. These are the knowledge work of a European consultant; measurement work to define and create a European education policy space; collective private action to give social meaning to sustainable Europe. 'This book argues that continued theoretical debates on the EU, although important, are nonetheless camouflaging a more fundamental divide about how we can and should imagine Europe. Indeed, for a long time, EU studies has been dominated by discussions over whether the EU is supranational or intergovernmental or multi-level. This book instead asks, is Europe's reality natural or co-produced? Is Europe's creation the outcome of the actions of rational actors pursuing materially-given interests, or does it result from the public action of groups of actors whose interests are socially constructed? Are categories of territory used to analyse EU politics - EU versus the Member States - appropriate or should we problematise the very notion of territory in any account of European integration?In answering these questions, the chapters of this book seek to re-imagine Europe - not as an entity in Brussels, but as a simultaneously real and imagined space of action which exists only to the extent that Europeans and others act in and on it. This volume seeks to establish how those concerned with building Europe - with extending and elaborating on the EU - think of where they are and what they are doing.Governing Europe's spaces presents original empirical material to capture Europeans in the process of making Europe: of performing, interpreting, modelling, referencing, consulting, measuring and de-politicising Europe. It will be of interest both to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as academics or practitioners who work in and on Europe, anyone who wants to look afresh at Europe and its Union and think again about its political project'--Back cover What do we imagine when we imagine Europe and the European Union? To what extent is our understanding of the EU – of its development, its policies and its working processes – shaped by unacknowledged assumptions about what Europe really is? The book constructs a case for re-imagining Europe – not as an entity in Brussels or a series of fixed relations - but as a simultaneously real and imagined space of action which exists to the extent that Europeans and others act in and on it. This Europe is constantly being made in particular spaces, through specific actor struggles, whose interconnections are often ill-defined. We ask how do those concerned with building Europe, with extending and elaborating the EU, think of where they are and what they are doing? The book captures Europeans in the process of making Europe: of performing, interpreting, modelling, referencing, consulting, measuring and de-politicising Europe. Front matter Dedication Contents List of figures List of contributors Acknowledgments Introduction: Governing Europe's spaces: European Union re-imagined Part I Spaces revisited Performing Europe: backstage versus frontstage politics in the European Parliament Interpreting Europe: mainstreaming gender in Directorate-General for Research, European Commission Part II Spaces reconciled Modelling Europe: the political work of impact assessment Referencing Europe: usages of Europe in national identity projects Part III Spaces revealed Consulting to Europe: knowledge agents and the building of Europe Measuring Europe: making sense of Europe through data and statistics Depoliticising Europe: collective private action and sustainable Europe Index