Politics and Social Visions. Ideology, Conflict, and Solidarity in the EU

During the 2010s the European Union entered into an existential predicament. The Euro crisis triggered a sharp conflict between a frugal North and a solidaristic South. The refugee crisis pitted the sovereigntist view of most Central and Eastern member states against the ‘burden sharing’ view of the others. Brexit sealed the victory of Euroscepticism. Divides intensified within the Left camp regarding the very desirability of a Social Europe. How can we explain this spiral of centrifugation? The book argues that the key cause was a long-standing but suddenly accelerating deficit of ‘communal ethos’ among the member states. A deficit caused by the failure of the main ideological families of the Continent to elaborate coherent visions about the EU as a compound community of national welfare states . Ideological pluralism is vital for the dynamism of a polity. But in order to avert destructive conflict, ideological visions must incorporate the values of common belonging, a shared allegiance to the group as such, capable of favouring mutual adjustments and compromises, especially in the face of adversities. Only with the Covid 19 pandemic has a basic communal consensus (re)emerged, mitigating ideological divides and allowing for a solidaristic re-orientation of the EU polity.