Abstract
A critical reflection on the European Union project from a cosmopolitan prism shows that although the idea of a European Union is cosmopolitan in nature, its current condition is only instrumentally cosmopolitan. This chapter suggests that the reason for this unpromising reality can be traced back to the first phases of the EU’s establishment, namely the purpose of the “union” and the process of its creation. The author claims that the lack of an in depth educational process throughout the creation of the EU brought about a fragmented entity, which is united monetarily, but the citizens of which feel very little commitment toward their fellow neighbors. Thus today Europe needs a paradigm shift in education, not only in finance and politics. There is a need to foster a deliberative process that could unite European young and adult citizens into an open, reflective and diverse cosmopolitan community which is capable of transcending narrow interests.
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A list of such educational endeavors and further references to additional literature that rated their success can be found in Etzioni (2013).
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Vinokur, E. (2016). Reimagining European Citizenship: Europe’s Future Viewed from a Cosmopolitan Prism. In: Papastephanou, M. (eds) Cosmopolitanism: Educational, Philosophical and Historical Perspectives. Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30430-4_10
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