The EU and the Temptation to Become a Civilizational State

The kerfuffle over Ursula von der Leyen’s attempt to create a cabinet portfolio for “protecting the European way of life” might appear trivia. However, this paper argues that the fallout from this episode highlights a focal point of the contemporary politics of European integration. The very gambit of linking the EU to a certain way of life has geopolitical implications that Brussels must take seriously if embarking on this path. The paper first highlights the ideological shift – away from a peace and prosperity justification (Weiler 1994; Mazower 1998) – involved in branding the EU as a means to protect a certain way of life. The traditional intra-European justification of supranationalism went hand-in-hand with the EU’s promotion of a liberal international order premised on universal moral values (Manners 2002). It is precisely the thin popular appeal of this universalistic identity within Europe that necessitated a reconsideration of what the EU is for. Consequently, EU elites have to confront for the first time the challenges of particularism, which is why the paper argues the concept of a “civilizational state” (Coker 2019) is needed to understand the EU in contemporary international affairs. Hence the analysis applies a civilizational lens to understand the EU’s current attempts to carve out a role in the changing international system. The argument proceeds by explaining how the EU, convinced of its soft power (Leonard 2005), failed to see coming the civilizational challenge to its universalist model of international order represented by China, Russia, and even the USA. The end of the universal idea of European integration thus coexists with adaptation to a changed international environment. The analysis demonstrates the demanding trade-offs inherent in pursuing such a civilizational strategy, including defining the EU’s borders, maintaining a regional sphere of influence, and externalizing border control. Ultimately, this paper argues that the civilizational temptation results in a paradox. That is, by foregoing universalism and standing up for Europe’s particularities, the EU is likely to precipitate geopolitical competition between rival poles. At the same time, the promise to promote a certain way of life inevitably raises citizens’ expectations about what the EU can achieve. Hence the move towards adopting a geopolitical justification for European integration is as fraught as it is inevitable