Identity Politics behind the Recent Euro and Refugee Crises of the European Union

Year 2019, Volume: 28 Issue: 2, 165 - 180, 31.10.2019

Ebru Oğurlu

https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2019.28.2.0059

Abstract

The recent crises in two flagship integration projects of the European Union (EU), i.e. the Euro and the Schengen integration, pose existential threats upon the Union. External shocks that revealed operational and institutional flaws within the EU have surfaced conflicts of preferences among the members and raised dubious questions about the future of integration. Although the causes and early stages of both crises had structural similarities, they resulted with completely different outcomes. This paper provides a liberal intergovernmental explanation for the divergent results of similar types of crises by referring to identity politics as the explanatory factor. It argues that the need for the collective identity in the Euro crisis and contradictions between European and national identities in the refugee crisis shaped the outcomes of the inter-governmental conferences and determined the future of each crisis.

Keywords

European Union, Euro crisis, Refugee crisis, Identity politics, Schengen crisis

Supporting Institution

The author received no financial support for this work.

Avrupa Birliği’nin Avro ve Sığınmacı Krizlerinin Arkasındaki Kimlik Siyaseti

Abstract

Avrupa entegrasyonunun 1990’lardaki iki amiral gemisi olarak kabul edilen Avro ve Schengen bölgelerinde son zamanlarda gözlenen krizler bugün itibariyle Avrupa Birliği’nin varlığı için tehdit haline gelmiştir. Birliğin kurumsal ve operasyonel açıklarını ortaya çıkaran dış kaynaklı krizler üye ülkelerin öncelikleri ve tercihleri konusunda çatışmaları su yüzüne çıkarmış ve Birliğin geleceği ile ilgili olarak şüphelerin doğmasına neden olmuştur. Avro ve Schengen bölgelerinde yaşanan krizlerin sebepleri ve ilk evreleri yapısal benzerlik gösterse de sonuçları birbirinden tamamen farklıdır. Bu çalışma, liberal hükümetlerarasıcılık teorisi çerçevesinde, benzer nitelikteki iki krizin farklı neticelerini kimlik siyasetine atıfla tartışmakta ve Avro krizi esnasında açığa çıkan kolektif kimlik ihtiyacı ile sığınmacı krizi sürecinde su yüzüne çıkan Avrupa kimliği ve ulusal kimlikler arasındaki çatışmanın hükümetlerarası görüşmelerin sonuçlarını dolayısıyla krizlerin geleceğini şekillendirdiğini ortaya koymaktadır. 

Keywords

Avrupa Birliği, Avro krizi, Sığınmacı krizi, Kimlik siyaseti, Schengen krizi

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