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For a Europe of flexible regions and not of region-states divided by ethnicity

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Abstract

Discussion of the future of Europe continues to be a marginal political issue, partly because of the resistance of states, on both the practical (bureaucratic) and conceptual levels, created by the government leaders and heads of state. In turn, the nation-states are challenged from within by independent and separatist movements that have laid bare the fundamental hypocrisy of rhetorical discussions of the principle regarding the self-determination of peoples; interfering with states (and their borders) has proven to be a taboo for Europe. The growing flexibility of the globalised economy should be paralleled by a growing flexibility in the conception of the division and political organisation of territory, but this is not the case. Further inflexibility stems from the socio-economic inequity that we accept in our daily lives as normal, in particular as regards inequality in the use and division of territory. Equality, or better egaliberté (equality and liberty), is a sufficiently dynamic and flexible concept to be taken as a point of reference in envisaging the society, Europe, and world of tomorrow. It is only through the concept of egaliberté that we can imagine a Europe based on relations between regions that are conceived and organised on multiple scales and not as region-nations conceived on the basis of ethnicity or in the name of supposed cultural homogeneity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Venice-Cà, Foscari Treviso, Italy

    Fabrizio Eva

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  1. Fabrizio Eva
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Eva, F. For a Europe of flexible regions and not of region-states divided by ethnicity. GeoJournal 52, 295–301 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014378606786

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014378606786

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