Experiencing European Integration

Abstract

Abstract European integration has generated a wide array of economic, political, and social opportunities beyond the nation state. Scandinavians spending their retirement at the Mediterranean coast; Germans employing a Polish caretaker; international exchange students staying in Prague; Italian baristas serving cappuccino in British coffee shops—they are all part of an integrating Europe and seem to reflect the 'Unity in diversity' that is desired by European policy makers. As an early theorist of European integration, Karl Deutsch expected this development to promote a collective identity and support for European integration: by interacting across borders, Europeans would become aware of their shared values and beliefs, appreciate the benefits of integration and eventually acquire a common 'we-feeling'. This book puts these expectations under scrutiny by developing a comprehensive theoretical model of how transnational interactions relate to orientations towards European integration. The central argument of this book is that there is a significant relationship between individual transnationalism and orientations towards European integration at the individual level, but that transactions are socially stratified, their effectiveness is dependent on their purpose and scope, and they can foment negative externalities among Europeans who are not transnationally active themselves. An extensive analysis of survey data covering the 27 EU member states provides a thorough empirical test of transactionalist hypotheses.

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