Dealing with Conflicting Visions of the Past the Case of European

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo Dealing with Conflicting Visions of the Past The Case of European Memory MANO GABOR TOTH St Catharine’s College This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Studies June 2017 Abstract The aim of my dissertation is to understand and critically evaluate how the idea of European memory has been conceptualised by different actors at the European level and to develop a novel, pluralist conception. Attempting to ground European integration and the attachment to Europe in historical narratives has become increasingly important for the EU since the loss of its main ideological “Other,” the Soviet Union. The projects adopted in this vein often have the explicit goal to address the “legitimacy problem” and the “democratic deficit” by promoting European identity. In the EU politics-academia nexus, where most of the related debate takes place, the buzzword “European memory” has become very fashionable in the last decade. The idea has been conceptualised in a variety of ways, but most of these are characterised by teleological frameworks and problem- solving thinking. In my dissertation, I examine and critically evaluate how the idea of European memory has been conceptualised by different actors at the European level, and I develop a novel conception based on radical democratic theory. I analyse how the concept of European memory has been used in different European institutions and cultural projects (such as the European Parliament and the House of European History), and I critically reflect on these practices. In my pluralist vision of the European mythical space, conflicting visions of the past are not regarded as an anomaly that needs to be overcome by rational consensus or as an asset that can be harvested in order to bolster the legitimacy of certain political bodies. This vision takes difference to be an inevitable condition of social life and it argues that, instead of trying to resolve conflicting interpretations of the past, social difference should be embraced and the nature of conflict should be changed so that antagonistic relationships can become agonistic ones through dialogue and education. On the one hand, my dissertation contributes to the field of memory studies with a comprehensive pluralist approach to myth. On the other hand, I contribute to European studies, and more specifically to the academic discussion about European memory, when I contextualise this theory of myth in the contemporary European politics of the past. To Lilla This is the attempt to free mankind from Nietzsche’s “longest lie,” the notion that outside the haphazard and perilous experiments we perform there lies something (God, Science, Knowledge, Rationality, or Truth) which will, if only we perform the correct rituals, step in to save us. Richard Rorty Consequences of Pragmatism (1982) That was probably the reason that history was more of an oracle than a science. Perhaps later, much later, it would be taught by means of tables of statistics, supplemented by such anatomical sections... Until this stage was reached, politics would remain bloody dilettantism, mere superstition and black magic. Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon (1940) ... anything less than an encounter with traumatic ungroundedness is not an ethics or a politics but a technology. Jenny Edkins Remembering Relationality (2006) Contents Tables xi Abbreviations xii Declaration xiii Acknowledgements xiv 1 Introduction 1 Part I Pluralist Approach to Myth 2 The Misleading Metaphor of Memory 23 3 Reflexivist Social Theory of Myth 45 4 Pluralist Ethics of Myth 59 Part II Pluralist European Mythscape 5 Disciplinary Approaches to the Idea of European Memory 117 6 Historical Trajectories of the Idea of European Memory 141 7 European Institutions and the Idea of European Memory 175 8 Conclusion: Pluralist European Mythscape 195 Bibliography 205 Tables 1 The Members of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group 159 2 The Rapporteurs of the Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism 160 3 The Number of MEPs from Former Communist Member States at Different Periods 161 4 The Representatives of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience 164 5 The Members of the Bureau and the Board of the House of European History 172 xi Abbreviations ALDE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ECP Europe for Citizens Programme ECR European Conservatives and Reformists ENRS European Network Remembrance and Solidarity EP European Parliament EPP European People’s Party Greens/EFA The Greens/European Free Alliance GUE/NGL European United Left/Nordic Green Left IND/DEM Independence/Democracy HEH House of European History LDT liberal democratic theory MEP Member of the European Parliament MP Member of Parliament NI Non-Inscrit OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PACE Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe PD Prague Declaration PEMC or Platform Platform of European Memory and Conscience PM Prime Minister RDT radical democratic theory RECT Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism REHG or Group Reconciliation of European Histories Group RWW2 Resolution on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War SD Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats UEN Union for Europe of the Nations Note about the use of abbreviations in tables In tables, the abbreviations of the names of the political groups in the European Parliament indicated above denote the current political groups as well as all their predecessors. Nationalities are represented by international licence plate country codes. xii Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University of similar institution. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit of 80,000 words. Mano Gabor Toth 12 June 2017 xiii Acknowledgements This dissertation, as most dissertations I suppose, is a form of self-therapy. From the beginning, it was motivated by the ambition to make sense of phenomena that I had experienced in my daily life in Hungary and had found so fascinating, intriguing and frustrating at the same time. The central puzzle is how conflicting visions of the past and their proponents can be made to relate to each other in a non-antagonistic way. It is certainly not “solved,” but after the intellectual journey of my PhD, it has definitely become easier to live with. The long intellectual and actual journey of this dissertation started and ended in Cambridge. Most of the time, working on such a liminal project felt like trying to find land in uncharted seas. First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my brilliant supervisors, Harald Wydra and Duncan Bell, for sailing with me to these dark waters, for guiding me out of whirlpools and for helping me steer through narrow straits. I thank them for their generosity and honesty, for being patient with me and for providing just the right kind of push when it was needed. Without a scholarship from the University that covered my tuition fees, I would not have even been able to start this journey. I thank my college for making me feel part of the Cambridge community, for its great formal dinners, its helpful staff, its financial support for conferences, and for allowing me to present at its Graduate Research Seminar. I am also grateful to my department where I could edit the student-run Cambridge Review of International Affairs, convene the PhD Student Colloquium together with Caroline Ashcroft, and present at the PhD Conference. I am happy to have been part of the lively PhD community in the UK and to have made friends with people like Alexandra Bocse, Jens Hamlischer, Vsevolod Samokhvalov and Yoav Galai. I would also like to mention organisations and people with whom I had a non-academic connection, but who were important in my life in Cambridge. I thank Alma and Marco Zaccaria for their kind friendship, for introducing me to the realm of sourdough and for one of the best holidays I have ever had in Southern Italy. The occasional commissions by Cambridge Assessment were always very interesting and enjoyable, and they provided much needed funds in difficult times; I am happy to have had the opportunity to work with people like David Harrison, Lesley Hay and Alex Naughton. Finally, I am glad to have worked with Selene Mills, who is sadly no xiv longer with us, in the organisation of the wonderful Renaissance and Baroque concerts of the charity organisation Cambridge Early Music. After Cambridge, the next stop was Brussels where I was a visiting researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles. I would have had difficulty completing this project without the generous support of the Wiener-Anspach Foundation. I thank the Foundation, Nicole Bosmans and my host promoter, François Foret, without whom my experience in Brussels would not have been the same. I am especially grateful for the hospitality of Zsuzsi Szilvássy and Romain Pradaut who I am happy to call my close friends. Finally, the project greatly benefited from the time spent in Lausanne at the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe. I am indebted to the Foundation for their generous Henri Rieben Scholarship that allowed me to concentrate on writing up my dissertation and to the welcoming staff who really made me feel at home.

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