Memory and Identity Policy-Making in the European Union

Abstract

The European Union has recently redoubled its efforts to be more inclusive and to enhance citizens' degree of identification with the integration project. Remembering Europe's joint and divisive past has become an increasingly important component of this strategy. At the same time, social movements and elite initiatives at the local, national and even transnational level have challenged the memory and identity politics of the European Union. How can we conceptualize this development that is driven both from below and from above, often in conflictual and contradictory ways? Who are the important actors in the shaping of remembrance and identity? How do they interact, cooperate, compete? Which policy-making mechanisms and narrative devices are employed in order to persuade institutional decision-makers or the public? How effective are memory and identity projects initiated or supported by the European Union? To what extent does the EU collaborate with local and national actors in its efforts to enhance citizens' identification through its memory initiatives? This panel aims at tackling key questions on European memory and identity. It focuses on the way different actors have tried to forge European identity politics and policies from above and from below.

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