Europe in the World after the Crisis: A Relational Approach

The economic crisis that has invested Europe since 2008 and the political crisis that peaked in the hot Greek summer of 2015 exposed the fractures and conflicts within the EU, but also within Europe at large. Arguably, this has led to a repositioning of Europe in the world, which is still ongoing. This reconfiguration of the internal European space happens in connection with the redefinition of the relations that Europe entertains with its outside (Moisio et al. 2013). In this paper, we argue that classical European studies accordingly need to be rethought: it is not possible anymore (and perhaps never was) to conceive of Europe in hermetic categories, but European space and politics need to be reconceptualized as heterogeneous and uneven, and this always in connection with the transformations happening beyond the artificial idea of Europe as a defined continent (Manners 2012). In particular, this paper focuses on the relations between Europe and two “other spaces”, Africa and China. Following the call of Jean and John Comaroff (J. Comaroff & J. L. Comaroff 2012), we argue that we need to look at transformations in contemporary Europe as a consequence of restructuring happening in other parts of the world, such as Africa. The uneven development characterizing today’s Eurozone may be read as a return of colonial relations or unfettered capitalism to Europe. This is why we propose to look at the relations between and across Europe and Africa and Europe and China as constitutive of Europe itself beyond a naïve inside/outside perspective.