Theresa Wobbe
From nation-building to market-building
The transformation of forms of societalization within the European integration process
Our understanding of nationalization and Europeanization is likely to profit more from a multi-leveled perspective than from approaches that consider these processes as discrete, separate phases. Wobbe's contribution therefore draws on the work of Georg Simmel by employing a gradualistic concept of society to examine the distinct forms of societalization that have emerged in the European integration process. In contrast to the nation-building model of political inclusion, it is argued here that market-building by the European Union results in a model of inclusion that works primarily within an economic framework. In a complementary development, equality is recodified as equal opportunity. As a consequence, this transformation contributes both to self-stabilizing the supra-national system and to eroding national inclusion arrangements.

Maurizio Bach
"European society"
Political integration and societal disintegration in Europe
"European society" is a notion linked to a normative concept of society that implies social cohesion, solidarity, collective identity and shared values, beyond the limits of national borders. The legitimacy and sustainability of European integration seems to depend to a large extent on the realization of this ideal, as a political ideal firmly entrenched in public consciousness. Many observers argue that, as more and more political responsibilities and legislative powers are shifted from the member states to the EU, a stronger basis for the Union in society becomes increasingly essential. Is this perspective realistic or a mere myth? Can the EU compensate for deficits in social integration on the national level or does it in fact require intact societies to function? But what if a European social integration is unrealistic and, at the same time, societalization and social integration on the level of the nation-state are increasingly weakened – as a result of Europeanization, among other factors?

Steffen Mau
Inequality dynamics and conflicts within the European space
The article deals with the issue of an emerging European space of social inequality. It starts with a critical examination of prevalent and unquestioned views on national inequality and the tendency to ignore transnational inequality. The main section of the text identifies new groups that are part of the European inequality regime – among them European Union elites, transmigrants and transfer groups – and new dimensions of structuring that can be attributed to the Europeanization process such as the marketization and regionalization of inequality. Based on this analysis, the article highlights possible shifts in social cleavages that may lead to a broader reconfiguration of societal conflict structures.

Maximilian Müller-Härlin
Europeanization?
The nation and Europe in parliamentary debates on European integration
Analysis of more than four hundred speeches that were held in the West-German, French, and British parliaments and addressed the Schuman Plan, the European defense alliance, and the Maastricht agreements reveals that, between 1950 and 1992, Europeanization of political discourse in these member states was limited. Both in the early phase of European integration and in the transition period around 1990, patterns of European identification and integration play a strikingly negligible role; instead, the debates analyzed here often reflected domestic issues and perceptions. Controversies over European politics as they were played out in the other member states hardly surfaced in national parliamentary debates of the 1990s.

Bettina Greiner
Special camps? What special camps?
On the historical site of Stalinist persecution in Germany
After the end of World War II, more than 150 000 Germans were interned in special camps in the Soviet Occupation Zone; nearly one-third of those imprisoned did not survive. This camp system was in no way comparable to the internment camps operated by the Western Allies and remains to this day, nearly sixty years after it was abolished, more or less uncharted territory in historical research and public consciousness. It is by no means an exaggeration to refer to this desideratum as a gap in the culture of memory, which is the starting point for the discussion of perspectives and limits of communication about victimhood in society presented in this article. How does a "society of perpetrators" deal with the suffering experienced by its own members? Under what circumstances does it lend an ear to those involved? And how are these responses reflected in the victims' memory texts?

Published 2009-06-12