A Community of Europeans?: Transnational Identities and Public Spheres
"In a book that will become a classic, Thomas Risse provides a fascinating, comprehensive, and wise analysis of European identity. This book is a model of conceptual clarity, empirical richness, and theoretical acuity that is certain to shape both the field of European studies and debate about the future of Europe."—Gary Marks, Chair in Multilevel Governance, VU Amsterdam, and Burton Craige Professor, UNC–Chapel Hill"Thomas Risse has taken up the hard question of whether or not a European public sphere exists. He has tentatively answered 'yes.' But, he also has a realistic view of the limits of that sphere and the political forces that affect the possibility of that sphere expanding, contracting or leading to bad outcomes. His perspective marks a clear position in this important debate about the future of Europe. This makes the book well worth reading."—Neil Fligstein, University of California, Berkeley"A Community of Europeans?is a pathbreaking contribution that brings together the main strands of theoretical and policy debate since the EU's current identity crisis began in the early 1990s and evaluates them against the best and most up-to-date empirical data. Thomas Risse has been a leading voice in these debates since their inception."—Thomas Banchoff, Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University"This timely and important book spans sociology, comparative politics, and international relations. Thomas Risse was one of the first to write about European identity issues as well as about the European public sphere; he combines sophisticated quantitative methodology with careful qualitative analysis."—Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Boston University