A Failure of Imagination? The Eurocrisis and the EU's Imagined Community

The European Union is floundering. How European citizens make sense of what the EU is, and what it means to them, will be a crucial element determining its future. Is there enough political loyalty and solidarity to support the continued transfer of sovereignty to Brussels? Particular symbols and practices over the years have generated images and experiences of Europe, for its citizens and for the broader global audience, that have been remarkably successful in underpinning the strengthening of the EU’s technocratic power. But the
strategy of banal political authority, and the “localizing” of Europe, or embedding its standardized symbols and practices within the national settings, may be at a breaking point. The paper highlights the generally unappreciated ways in which the EU has developed an “imagined community” of Europeans, but also cautions the EU's "cultural infrastructure" will need serious shoring up in order to survive.