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THE ABDUCTION OF EUROPE: A PLEA FOR LESS ‘UNIONISM’ AND MORE EUROPE
Author(s) -
BOEDELTJE FREERK,
VAN HOUTUM HENK
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9663.2008.00467.x
Subject(s) - plea , european union , constitution , politics , resizing , political science , western europe , state (computer science) , bounded function , political economy , economy , law , sociology , international trade , economics , computer science , mathematical analysis , mathematics , algorithm
This article claims that the development of a European super–state is undesirable and unreal. Europe has never presented itself as a single bordered entity supported by a constitution and a clear definition of Europe and non‐Europe. The contemporary forceful abduction by the European Union re‐creates Europe as a bounded political entity institutionalised through treaties and acts. It is made a socio‐political cultural construction embedded in its own created geography, history and culture. We will argue that European Union is not the same as Europe and that Europe is not a people. Europe is neither finite nor restrictive. The invention and fabrication of a bounded version of Europe leads to new forms of ‘spatial containerisation’ which carries the name of ‘Europeanization’.