This roundtable brings together a historian, political scientists and political theorists to discuss founding practices (rather than values) of European integration and their relevance to current dilemmas. It is anchored in a collective reading of A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memory and policies by Catherine Guisan, a monograph which draws from Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur to interpret the speech and deed of European elite and grassroots founders over six decades (found in interviews, memoirs, essays and treaty texts). The panelists will discuss several questions: Given the 1950s reconciliation processes between France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries, what are the ‘retrievable’ memories of original initiatives that might help ‘reconcile’ opposing parties in the Western Balkans and Cyprus today? And is Hannah Arendt’s theory of forgiveness and promise helpful for an interpretation of such reconciliatory practices? How did the first Communities’ founders balance interests with ideals? Can their narratives point to some more imaginative ways to meet the current Eurozone crisis? And what does Habermas’ discourse theory explain about the EU’s Commission and European Parliament’s flawed attempts to memorialize and legitimize European integration? Does the work of memory encourage or undermine new political initiatives for European integration? With these and other questions, the panelists will explore what a critical hermeneutics of memory contributes to the understanding of European integration.
The panelists:
Stella Ghervas (Sciences Po Bordeaux)
Jane Gingrich (University of Minnesota)
Catherine Guisan (University of Minnesota)
Francesco Maiolo (Utrecht University)
Gerard Van der Ree (Utrecht University)
