Transformation of the European Left and the Promethean Role of Europe

Gradual abandoning of the “socialism in one country” doctrine during the post-war period and intensive transformation of European social democracy in the 1990s pushed social democratic politicians in the front line of advocates of a unified and powerful Europe. The relaunch of European integration since the mid-1980s has been strongly endorsed and carried out by numerous European social democrats. Their visions of European integration differed in boldness and this was the result of ideological and national differences. However, this new social democratic emphasis on European supranationalism became recurrent. In addition, prominent member of Green parties became strong supporters of federal Europe which would be founded on post-materialistic values. Numerous intellectuals and social scientists were even more engaged in the promotion of the new global role of Europe. They saw European integration as the first step towards Kantian perpetual peace and towards the establishment of the global society which can solve ecological crisis and global inequalities. This narrative of “the Promethean role of Europe” promotes European integration and specific positive European values to the rest of the world. Organisational and geopolitical prerequisites for the emergence of this kind of a narrative and its evolution from its nucleus in texts of previous left-leaning federalists to its contemporary form will be presented. It will be analysed how this narrative is used to counter criticism of European integration and to construct common and coherent EU ideology. It is argued here that this process resembles the process of the formation of national ideologies.