Learning To Be (come) A Good European A Critical Analysis of the Official European Union Discourse on European Identity and Higher Education Jonna Johansson Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 417 Linköpings universitet Department of Management and Engineering Linköping 2007 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science • No. 417 Vid filosofiska fakulteten vid Linköpings universitet bedrivs forskning och ges forskarutbildning med utgångspunkt från breda problemområden. Forskningen är organiserad i mångvetenskapliga forskningsmiljöer och forskarutbildningen huvudsakligen i forskar- skolor. Gemensamt ger de ut serien Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. Denna avhandling kommer från Statsvetenskapliga avdelningen på institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling. Distribueras av: Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling Linköpings universitet 581 83 Linköping Jonna Johansson Learning To Be (come) A Good European – A Critical Analysis of the Official European Union Discourse on European Identity and Higher Education Upplaga 1:1 ISBN 978-91-85895-01-4 ISSN 0282-9800 © Jonna Johannson Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling Tryckeri: LiU-tryck, Linköping Linköping Studies in Arts and Science Dissertation No. 417 Learning To Be (come) A Good European A Critical Analysis of the Official European Union Discourse on European Identity and Higher Education Jonna Johansson Abstract During the year 2007, when this thesis was completed, the European Union could look back at fifty years of collaboration, which began with the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and which has developed from being mainly economic in character to incorporating a political as well as a social dimension at the European level. In 2007 the European Union also commemorated the twentieth anniversary of Erasmus, its higher education mobility programme. It is this relatively new political dimension which I have been interested in investigating in this thesis. More precisely it is the political construction of a common European identity which is analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach.The major aim of this thesis has been two-fold. The first aim has been to investigate how the European is constructed in the discourse contained within the official European Union policy documents. I have been interested in analysing the various structures, in the form of ideas and norms which are used in order to construct ‘the European’. The second aim has been to explore whether the role of higher education, as constructed in the official European Union discourse, is given a similar identity-making role as education is argued to have in the nation-state according to the theory on national identity. I argue that there are three version of European identity construction, i.e. cultural, civic, and neo-liberal, with their own relationship to higher education, present in the empirical material analysed, consisting of official European Union documents. Further, this thesis is also a study of the power of modern government. I argue that there is an increase in normative soft power where ‘The Good European’ is not something ‘you’ are but something ‘you’ become by being a responsible active citizen. Through the use of critical discourse analysis I illuminate the power which resides in the language in the discourse analysed. Thus, I have been interested in investigating how the official European Union discourse on European identity and higher education works to both include and exclude individuals. Keywords: identity, higher education, ‘Unity in Diversity’, ‘European dimension’, language, citizenship, activity, mobility, neo-liberalism, competitiveness, ‘Knowledge Economy’, flexibility, Lifelong Learning, skills. “Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection”. - Chuang Tzu (c. 360 BC – c. 275 BC) This is my story…. It was at school that my interest for the world first developed. I loved reading about children my own age in other parts of the globe. Also, it was through one of my teachers that I got my first pen pal when I was around ten years old. It was a little freckled boy from Australia, who just like me lived on a farm and had his own horse. In the following years, as I learnt English at school, I would write to many more boys and girls from all around the world and learn about what their lives were like, what they liked to do in their spare-time, what their ambitions for the future looked like, etc. By writing to them I realised that even though their everyday lives might differ from mine we also had many things in common, such as hopes about the future and values, which made it possible, despite differences, for us to relate to each other. I can still remember the amazing feeling of receiving letters with exotic stamps from places far away. Remember, this was the time B.C., i.e. before computers. However, as I grew older reading about the world was no longer enough. This interest in the world outside Sweden brought me to England when I was twenty years old. I came across the North Sea with a dream of living and experiencing another culture and way of life first hand. After a few years there I decided that I wanted to study at the university, and why not in England. For the next three years I took advantage of coming from an European Union Member State and got to study there for free, and then a further year completing a Masters at my own expense. When I strated this research process I knew I wanted to write ‘something’ about identity since it is a subject which has fascinated me since my undergraduate days, which was also when I first became intrigued by the relationship between the nation and the nation-state under the conditions of globalisation and how these new circumstances have affected the role and nature of national identity. However, with this thesis, I saw an opportunity to broaden my investigative horizon by moving outside the nation-state borders. Having lived in the European Union’s two most Eurosceptic Member States, i.e. Sweden and Great Britain, I had followed the public debate on European Union membership which often contained critical arguments in relation to a common European identity which made me curious about what is actually meant by a European identity. I would like to thank the people who have influenced me and encourage me over the years in my academic career. I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Christopher May, at University of the West of England in Bristol, who introduced me to the subject of International Relations and Dr. Hazel Smith, at Warwick University in Coventry, who furthered this interest and who has served as an inspiration, both as a scholar in International Relations and as a woman in academia. In addition I would like to thank Ben Rosamond whose course on European Integration I took during my Masters at Warwick University and who opened up my eyes to the wonderful world of European studies. I would also like to thank Peo Hansen who has not only read various versions of my script and commented on them but who has also shared with me his great knowledge on issues on the European Union and identity. I also have to pay gratitude to Marianne Winter Jörgensen for her perceptive comments on my script which gave me alot of food for thought and which forced me to think hard about what was the main issue that I wanted to purvey with my thesis. I am also grateful for the thorough reading and insightful comments I received from Jacob Westberg on my script which were of great help in finishing stages of the research process. I am also grateful for all the support and constructive criticism which I have received from all my colleagues during my years at the Politics department at Linköping University. I want to thank my supervisor Geoffrey Gooch for having confidence in me and giving me the opportunity to do what I dreamt of doing. Special thanks also goes out to Mikael Baaz, whom I consider to be both a colleague and a great friend, for giving me encouragement when I doubted myself and inspiring me to think about what I can and want to do career wise once this thesis was finished. I am also grateful that you lured me out of the office once in a while and was prepared to listen to me ranting on about my thesis and making me laugh over a beer or two. I also have to mention fellow PhD student Rickard Mikaelsson, with his rough Northern charm, whom I shared an office with for two years. I have missed our debating and bickering but I did get a lot more done once I got my own office. In addition, I would like to thank our department secretary, Kerstin Karlsson, who has been a fountain of knowledge and a great support in my role as a teacher during these years, which has meant one less thing to worry about on top of the thesis. Further, I am forever grateful for the indepth reading, encouragement and emotional support which I have received from my colleagues Elin Wiborg and Maria Alm. I am not sure how I would have reached the finishing line without you. I also want to thank Amanda Rafter for all the help she has given me in relation to the layout of the thesis. It has been invaluable for a technically challenged person like me. I also want to thank Johanna Nählinder for taking time to listen to me, cheering me up and putting things in perspective. I have really appreciated our talks on life, love and literature.