A Foundation of Solidarity: The Power of Cosmopolitanism in the European Union

As Europe shudders under the collective weight of the sovereign debt and refugee crises, scholars and policy makers are debating the best strategy for preserving the European Union. Some suggest institutional changes within the parameters of conventional politics, while others look to a more societal response, arguing that proper institutions won’t work if there is no public buy-in to the European project. The extension of the latter argument is that if the European public did affirm the values underlying European unification, it would improve the probability of long-term survival of the European Union as a political, social, and economic institution. At a fundamental level, the European Union is founded on notions of cosmopolitanism, which encompasses the idea that humans should be equal citizens in a single community. If cosmopolitanism is an enduring feature in European democratic society, it should manifest at the individual level, and ideally should extend across the whole territory of the European Union. Do Europeans adhere to values of cosmopolitanism? If they do, is cosmopolitanism associated with support for European integration? This paper examines aggregate levels of public opinion across the EU member to gauge the existence of individual cosmopolitanism and it’s relevance in determining support for European integration.