From The Global Journal: Francis Fukuyama opines on Europe

http://theglobaljournal.net/article/view/695/

The European Citizen: Just a Myth?

by The Global Journal MAY 18, 2012
"But don’t underestimate the integrative effects of a conflictual past. Europeannations share a history of conflicts and reconciliations; that may well serve as a resource for constructing a common political culture. Certainly, the memory politics of nation states works both ways: divisive in the nationalist reading, integrative in a reflective reading. But imagine a campaign focusing on the alternative between either “more” or “less” Europe – the mere topic would solicit a mutual perspective- taking which might, in the best case, promote the efforts of leading media to relate national views and to compare them with one another. Moreover, with regard to a polarizing campaign on Europe’s alternative futures we must not forget the integrative effects of such a competitive process itself. Notwithstanding their common commitment, pro-European parties are still divided along familiar lines. While one side wants to secure democratic backing for a more effective pursuit of market liberalism, the other side aims to furnish the European Union with a supranational authority that they want to use for a desired regulation of markets – something which is possible, if at all, only on a continental scale. This debate would per se promote the European cause, because the programmatic liberal/social-democratic split would for the first time cut across the lines of national alliances; it would open the door for a European domestic policy and provide a stimulus for the formation of a European party system."