Abstract
In what sense is ‘Europe’ diffirerent from Britain? As is usual in identity discourse, the European Other has two faces. The image of good Europe is linked to the arts and originates from the era of the Grand Tour. Bad Europe is associated with immorality and dictatorial regimes that lack common sense and common law, but abound in rigid written constitutions. Bad Europe is above all a product of the English Reformation, which was seen as different and superior, and sparked an invention of a collective, Catholic, corrupt Europe, a version of which still figures in today’s Britain-and-Europe debate.
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© 2015 Menno Spiering
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Spiering, M. (2015). The Invention of Europe. In: A Cultural History of British Euroscepticism. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137447555_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137447555_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49623-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-44755-5
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