Keywords: European integration, European culture and cultural influence
The process of post-war European integration is the highest achievement of regional cooperation and regional integration since the emergence of nation-States. Its development to the present level not only exceeds the expectations of all countries in the world, but also exceeds the imagination of European politicians. Europe is not only a geographical concept, geopolitical and economic concept, but also a cultural concept. European integration not only means European economic integration and foreign and security policies, but also means "homogenization" of European culture. European integration began in the economic field and spilled over into the political, defense and social fields, but it will stop in the cultural field. Only when European countries are closely integrated in culture and a unified cultural Europe is established can European integration be finally realized. In fact, cultural factors have been playing an important role since the beginning of European integration. With the deepening and expansion of integration, cultural factors will have a greater impact on the whole process, and even directly determine the development direction and outcome of future fusion.
1. European culture? The connotation and characteristics of
The so-called culture is "the values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations and opinions that people generally hold in a society." (1) American anthropologists A.L.Kroeber and Clydkluckholn believe that culture "exists in various implicit and explicit modes, which can be learned and spread by means of symbols, and constitutes a special achievement of human groups ... The basic elements of culture are traditional concepts and values, among which values are the most important." They think that culture can be divided into two parts: recessive structure and dominant mode. The recessive structure of culture consists of thinking mode, values and aesthetic mode, and its core is values, which is the most common and lasting thing in culture. The dominant mode of culture consists of spiritual culture, material culture and institutional culture, which depends on the hidden part and is also the existence and expression of the hidden structure. ② Political culture constitutes the core of all great cultures. The core of ancient Greek culture is not brokeback Venus, but Athenian democracy. The so-called political culture is "a nation's psychology about political life" and "a set of political attitudes, beliefs and feelings popular in a specific period". This political culture is formed by the national history and current social, economic and political activities. ..... Political culture influences the behaviors of various political actors, their political demands and their responses to the law. It also takes two forms: implicit and explicit. This paper will mainly analyze European culture from the perspective of political culture.
From the perspective of historical development, European culture has experienced the evolution process from modern times to modern times and from barbarism to civilization. Constructivist theorist Alexander? Winter believes that the western society centered on Europe has experienced three different cultural forms: Hobbes culture, Locke culture and Kant culture. The moral basis of Hobbes' culture is the so-called "theory of evil nature" and the concept of not allowing "the other". He believes that human nature is evil, everyone is full of selfishness, greed and desire to do bad things, "man is like a wolf to man" and society is in a "war between all people and all people". Every country also regards other countries as "enemies" and tries to "harm others and benefit themselves" in national interests. International relations have been in chaos, conflict and even "infinite" war, and "war has become a system". "In Hobbesian culture, killing and being killed are the characteristics of the relationship between countries." In the state of universal hatred, "aliens" have no right to exist and freedom, and the "crusade" against "heresy" is the concrete embodiment of this culture. Within Europe, this culture also led to "concentration of power" and "establishment of empire". The moral basis of Locke's culture is "survival and allowing survival", that is, "I live and let others live". It defines international relations as antagonistic relations, thus freeing the international community from the infinity of war and the "high mortality rate of the country". Self-restraint, "competition and cooperation constitute the characteristics of Locke's cultural international relations." The basic condition to achieve this is the law and "rule of law" that bind the people and the country to kill and do evil. Therefore, the theory of evil nature leads to the development of European legal system and the deep-rooted concept of European legal system, as well as the formation and development of balance theory, power balance theory and related mechanisms, as well as the development of human rights concept, democratic consciousness and democratic system. Order, rule of law, democracy, tolerance and existence are increasingly becoming the core components of European culture. But "Locke culture is not a complete legal system", which is actually unstable, because "war is considered normal and legal". Once the mechanism of restraining war fails, war may be infinite again, thus returning to Hobbesian cultural state. The moral basis of Kant's culture is "everyone for me and I for everyone", and its normative basis is "rule of law". It defines international relations as friendship, in which "non-violence and team behavior have become the norm" and "the relationship model between actors transcends competition and cooperation, not only does not regard each other as enemies, but also internalizes each other's interests into the same interests, thus establishing a new concept of cooperation." Winter calls this structure "* * * isomorphism" and thinks that all members of * * * isomorphism construct a complete and "group self" collective identity. This is the highest state of cultural form. In fact, from the logical order rather than the time order, European culture has just experienced the historical evolution from Hobbes culture to Kant culture. At present, European culture obviously embodies some characteristics of Locke culture and Kant culture, and is a mixture of the two.
European culture has rich connotations and distinctive features, which can be divided into different categories. According to the dichotomy of culture mentioned above, European culture can be divided into two parts, namely, hidden part and explicit part, or conceptual culture and structural culture. At the same time, European culture is not single. It is not only a culture with the same cultural connotation, but also a culture that embraces the diversity of cultural characteristics of different ethnic groups. "It is a comprehensive concept, with the connotations of' similarities and differences' and' differences and similarities'", and its integration reflects its macro-identity. As far as the diversity of its branches is concerned, it can be seen that its microscopic diversity leads to' nationalism'. Summarizing the related expositions of scholars at home and abroad, we can classify the same European culture (also known as "European self" and "European structural identity") into Christian civilization, legal concept, human rights concept, freedom concept, equality concept, competition concept, rights and obligations concept, reconciliation spirit, tolerance attitude, negotiation spirit, non-violence concept, order concept, mutual assistance concept, individualism, rationalism and positivism. In addition, there are "European consciousness" and "Europeanism" of European nationalities about establishing a unified Europe. The diversity of European culture (also known as "national self-identity" and "national identity" in Europe) mainly refers to the nationalist feelings, different democratic concepts and their realization methods, differences in legal systems, differences in economic freedom, differences in religious beliefs, and love for their respective cultures and symbols (language, currency, art, etc.). ), as well as national historical pride. For example, French culture has obvious "continental" characteristics, and its "natural connection" is mainly in the European continent. Since the Great Revolution, France has established a relatively perfect democratic system and eliminated all feudal remnants. Legally, it belongs to a typical civil law system, and the written law is rich and rigorous; Religiously, it belongs to Catholic Europe; Its people have a deep sense of national superiority over the long-standing French language, literature, art, currency, lifestyle and glorious history. British culture, on the other hand, is "maritime", and its "natural connection" is first the British colonial empire, the Commonwealth and the United States, and then the European continent. He has a special liking for the constitutional monarchy formed in its history, and is full of pride and nostalgia for the glory of the "British Empire" in the19th century, so that he has a good impression on everything formed in the past (English, pound sterling, English classical literature represented by Shakespeare, etc.). ). Legally belonging to the Anglo-American legal system, emphasizing the significance of precedent; Religion belongs to Protestant Europe. Historically, the German nation is an "extremely conservative, particularly advanced, ancient and energetic nation." "Its social system has always been an extremely anti-democratic dictatorship", and it was not until after World War II that it embarked on the road of freedom and democracy under the strong impetus of the outside world. "They think their nation is one of the best, and it is so in quality, culture, philosophy, religion, language and so on. The Excellence of the Germanic nation. " In addition, the German nation has a tradition of worshipping authority and strictly observing discipline. Therefore, European culture is "Europeanism to the outside world"; Internally, it is nationalism, while the EU is a combination of Europeanism and nationalism.
The above characteristics of European culture have had a great influence on the process of European integration and its structural characteristics.
Second, the influence of cultural factors on European integration.
Since the establishment of 1952 European Coal and Steel * * *, European integration has gone through a process of deepening and consolidating from small to large. From the perspective of its members, it has developed from the original six countries to the present 15 countries, and will expand to 25 countries after May 2004, and the cultural background of integration is increasingly rich and colorful; From the perspective of integration, from coal and steel, which initially only involved some economic fields, to the comprehensive European Union, which now includes economic, political, diplomatic, national defense and social fields; Judging from the fastest-growing degree of economic integration, from the initial free trade zone through the customs union and the * * * common market to the current economic and goods union; Its structural system has also developed from the initial single structure to the present complex three-column structure. Every step of the development of European integration is undoubtedly influenced by European culture, which contains rich cultural connotations.
In fact, before the formal start of the integration process, Europe had experienced a cultural movement, which promoted the unity of Europe for centuries. First of all, European culture has contained unified factors since its birth. Before the modern nation-state came into being, Europe was unified in Christian belief, and Europeans had the same "heaven", the same god and a unified spiritual world. It is this spiritual identity that makes all ethnic groups in Europe have a "European consciousness" different from foreign countries. With the birth of the nation-state, Europe began to fall apart and fell into constant conflicts and wars, which aroused the strong desire of Europeans to restore "European unity" from the opposite side. The concept of "European unity" was first embodied in the works of thinkers, forming a political science with the purpose of pursuing peace and establishing a new national structure and international structure. The European people's thought and movement of "promoting reunification" has never stopped. The disastrous consequences of the two world wars shocked European countries, prompted European ruling and opposition parties to take the EU issue seriously, and formed a wide range of social movements. After the end of World War II, in the process of exploring lasting peace, Europeans finally started the unification process marked by "regional integration", and the idea of the European Union, which lasted for hundreds of years, finally entered the practical stage. Therefore, European integration is not only the result of "government behavior", but also the European culture owned by all ethnic groups in Europe. Jacques, former president of the European Sports Commission? Delauer even thought Eurocopter was "the crystallization of ideas".
In the development of European integration, culture has had a great influence on it mainly from the following three aspects.
First, the impact on the integrated development model. Since the nation-state came into being, European culture has been in a "double self" structure. The "European self-nature" longing for European unity and the "national self-nature" advocating the supremacy of national interests not only influence and restrict each other, but also determine the overall appearance of European culture and European international relations. Within the structure, there is a trade-off between the two kinds of "self-nature", and the expansion of "national self-nature" will inevitably lead to the contraction of "European self-nature", and vice versa. The core issue it involves is the national interests centered on national sovereignty. "European self-nature" aims at the union and unification of Europe. As an integral part of the overall interests of Europe, the national interests of all ethnic groups can only be subordinated to the latter and cannot be surpassed, so national sovereignty must be transferred to a greater extent. "National self-nature" emphasizes the supremacy and inviolability of national sovereignty and national interests, and does not recognize any authority higher than the state. It makes it difficult for sovereign countries to fully integrate, which leads to limited cooperation and even leads to division, conflict and war. Therefore, when "national identity" becomes the dominant culture in Europe, Europe will fall into division and chaos. When "European identity" dominates European culture, Europe will embark on the road of union and even integration. For a long time, "national self-identity" has been the dominant factor for European countries to formulate foreign policies, and even the sovereignty issue is still the most sensitive issue in European integration. This determines that all integrated designs with the main content of damaging and weakening national sovereignty are doomed to failure. This is also the main reason why the idea of "federalism" integration has been repeatedly rejected in practice. Therefore, "functionalism" based on the integration of individual fields and "federalism" characterized by loose alliance have become the best choices for European countries. In addition, integration can only begin in areas that have the least impact on sovereignty and are most beneficial to peace and security. In the early post-war period, this was the field of coal and steel. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that European integration takes coal and steel as the breakthrough and starting point. The above characteristics of European culture also determine that European integration can only adopt a gradual and functional spillover model, and only the continuous development of economic integration can lead to the integration of other fields.
Second, the impact on the comprehensive legal system construction and institutional setup. Europe is the birthplace of modern democracy and legal thought. European countries have established democratic legal systems with constitutionalism, separation of powers, universal suffrage, representative system, judicial independence and supremacy of law as their basic principles and core contents. The idea of democracy and legal system has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts and has become a universal norm of people's daily behavior. This feature of European culture has profoundly influenced the legal system construction and institutional setup of European integration. First of all, it makes European integration follow the principle of legal system from the beginning and establishes the prominent position of law in integration. European integration began with the negotiation of isomorphism of coal and steel in Europe, and the signing and adoption of isomorphism treaty marked the first step of integration. From the signing of the European Coal and Steel Treaty to the forthcoming promulgation of the European Constitution, every step of the development of European integration is first reflected in the corresponding legal achievements, which have been consolidated through laws. European integration has gone through a road of gradually establishing and perfecting a unified European legal system. At present, the EU has a set of 80,000-page legal documents covering all fields of social life, which are very rich, concrete and operable, and constitute a complete legal system. Therefore, the EU is also called "the same legal system". Secondly, the institutional setup of European integration fully embodies the characteristics of separation of powers, checks and balances of powers and representative system. The EU has five main institutions, namely Council of Europe, the Council of Ministers, Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice. Council of Europe is the highest decision-making body of the EU, responsible for formulating the major policies of the EU; The Council of Ministers is the main decision-making body of the EU, responsible for formulating EU laws and policies. The Committee is the executive body of the European Union, responsible for implementing the decisions made by the above-mentioned institutions and supervising the implementation of relevant treaties; The European Parliament is mainly an advisory body with the functions of supervision, suggestion, deliberation, approval and budget. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest judicial organ in the EU, which is responsible for the interpretation of EU laws, the trial and judgment of cases, etc. Although the EU is obviously different from other countries in power distribution, such as the European Parliament is not endowed with the highest legislative function, the separation, independence and checks and balances of the legislative, executive and judicial powers among EU institutions are extremely obvious. Moreover, the representatives of some institutions are elected and have the characteristics of representative system. Thirdly, the existence and blending of Europeanism and Nationalism make the EU integration mechanism have extremely special characteristics. Logically, the identity of European culture leads to the supranational nature of European integration mechanism, while its diversity leads to the intergovernmental nature of integration. On the one hand, generally speaking, the intergovernmental nature of European integration is obvious at present. Not only does the creation and revision of its treaties need to be discussed and decided by intergovernmental meetings, but also the activities of its institutions are limited to the scope authorized by member States, and its authority comes from the provisions of the treaties. Therefore, "* * * The same institution, even if it has great power, cannot have the power to constantly multiply itself". This is especially true in foreign and security policies, as well as in justice and civil affairs. On the other hand, in the field of power transfer by member States, integration activities are no longer of a simple intergovernmental nature. "In the decision-making process of Committee proposal, Council decision-making, deliberation by the European Parliament and judicial supervision by the European Court of Justice, the institution of * * * is more a political activity than an ordinary intergovernmental organization". It is generally believed that "the Council of Europe is obviously intergovernmental, while institutions such as the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice and the Commission are often regarded as supranational mechanisms", but "the same mechanism also has different attributes on different occasions". Therefore, the EU's "integration mechanism does not have a single intergovernmental or supranational nature, but a variety of properties coexist at different levels of the same system."
Third, the impact on the comprehensive voting mechanism. There are three voting mechanisms in EU institutions: unanimous consent, specified majority and simple majority. From a cultural point of view, each one embodies a different meaning. Unanimous agreement is intergovernmental in nature, which embodies more meanings of "nationalism" and "nationalism", and gives every member a veto power. Because of this, the French government of Charles de Gaulle, with strong nationalism, once implemented the "empty chair policy" for six months, demanding that the voting mechanism of the European body be revised and the principle of unanimous consent be implemented. The simple majority and the specific majority have supranational attributes, which embodies more Europeanism. For a long time, the European Union has implemented the block vote system on almost all major issues, but it is this that has caused the lack of decision-making efficiency and greatly hindered the process of European integration. With the establishment of the European Union and the implementation of the EU's eastward expansion plan, the original voting mechanism is increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the situation. Therefore, since the end of the Cold War, the European Union has accelerated the reform of the voting mechanism and gradually expanded the scope of application of the majority voting system. This also reflects the development of "Europeanism" consciousness within the EU.
From the above analysis, we can see that the implementation of European integration not only has a profound cultural foundation and broad cultural background, but also the mode, process, nature and characteristics of integration are deeply influenced by European culture.
Third, the cultural perspective of EU's eastward expansion.
The eastward expansion is a grand blueprint for the EU across the century and a strategic choice made by the EU after a comprehensive investigation of the post-cold war world situation and the European situation. It will realize the unification of Europe in a larger geographical scope. Different from the previous enlargement, this enlargement of the EU has a more distinctive cultural color and a clearer cultural intention.
First of all, the eastward expansion strategy was formulated and implemented under the situation of drastic changes and comprehensive restructuring in Eastern European countries, with a distinct cultural background. Since the end of 1980s, under the impetus and influence of the "Gorbachev Reform" of the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries have abandoned the socialist system and ideology, abolished the one-party system and planned economy, and rebuilt their spiritual life and political, economic and social systems according to the values, democratic politics and market economy model of Western Europe. At the same time, they put forward the slogan of "returning to Europe" and actively demanded to join European organizations and become a part of "Europe" again. Eastern European countries believe that they share the same Christian culture and values as western European countries. Joining the EU can not only provide new impetus for their democratization process, but also help to promote the transformation of their national psychology. Compared with political and economic factors, "social psychological factors are perhaps the most important: returning to Europe is equal to joining western civilization, and returning to Europe is equal to restoring' Europeans'." Therefore, joining the EU "is that these countries are seeking proof that they belong to the West." Due to geopolitical, economic, security and cultural considerations, the EU also regards eastward expansion as an important step in the further development of European integration. After more than ten years of preparation, the EU Copenhagen Summit in June 5438+February 2002 formally decided to accept 10 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and the accession treaty was signed in the first half of 2003.
Secondly, the EU has formulated clear political and cultural accession criteria for Central and Eastern European countries. Different from the previous enlargement, the EU's eastward expansion not only sets strict economic access standards for the applicant countries, but also clearly puts forward political and cultural access standards with democracy, legal system and human rights as the main contents for the first time. At the beginning of the signing of the European Agreement, the European Union put forward a series of political and cultural requirements, taking respect for democracy, human rights and market economy as the basic principles of the agreement, and asked the associated countries to continue political and economic reforms, abide by laws and protect human rights. The Copenhagen Criteria formulated by 1993 clearly stipulates the political and cultural conditions for the countries concerned to join the EU: the applicant country must be a stable and pluralistic democratic country, with at least an independent political party and a regular election system, governing the country according to law, respecting human rights and protecting the rights and interests of ethnic minorities; We must establish an effective market economy and implement policies such as competition and price liberalization; Reform the legal system based on the laws of western European countries and gradually integrate with the European Union legal system. The Treaty of Amsterdam further strengthened the political and cultural requirements for the applicant country, directly linked the political and cultural conditions with the membership for the first time, and clearly pointed out that if the applicant country seriously violated the democratic principles, it would postpone joining the EU. Since then, cultural standards have been regarded as a necessary condition for the EU to accept new members.
Third, when determining the list of allies and expanding its borders eastward, the EU has shown an obvious tendency of cultural choice. At the beginning of the eastward expansion, there was a debate about "who doesn't belong to Europe" and "where is the border of Europe" within the EU. In this debate, cultural factors are endowed with very important significance. Although the debate is not over yet, the list of the first batch of allies shows that the EU has an obvious tendency of cultural choice when determining the goal of eastward expansion. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Malta are all Christian (including Catholicism and Protestantism) countries, and their democracy and human rights are considered to have basically reached the standards set by the European Union. In Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Turkey and other unaccepted countries, most of their residents believe in Orthodox or Islam, and their democracy and human rights are often criticized by the European Union. In particular, 1987 applied for membership in Turkey, even though its economic indicators were generally better than those of the above-mentioned 10 countries, it was rejected. Cultural differences are usually considered as the main reasons. Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics were excluded from the possibility of joining the European Union from the beginning, and cultural considerations accounted for a large proportion. Former German Chancellor Helmut? Schmidt believes that the current EU 15 countries are all branded with European culture, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Slovenia all belong to the same European culture, while Cyprus is "almost indistinguishable" from EU member countries Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Malta, Russia and Slovenia in terms of cultural characteristics. Therefore, he is firmly opposed to the EU considering Turkey's accession to the EU, because "if anyone still insists on accepting Turkey's accession to the EU, they must know on what grounds it will reject Egypt, Morocco, Algeria or Libya's possible applications in the future." Former Belgian Prime Minister martens also believes that Turkey does not belong to the category of European culture, and it is impossible for Turkey to become a member of the European Union now and in the future.
Finally, the EU has a set of cultural policies to help candidate countries change their domestic systems. In order to successfully achieve the goal of eastward expansion, the EU has not only set clear accession standards for Central and Eastern European countries, but also actively helped these countries to reform their domestic rules and regulations and push them to meet the standards as soon as possible. To this end, the EU has formulated a series of policy documents, including reforming the legal system of candidate countries, establishing new legal concepts, improving the electoral system, establishing a civil society, safeguarding the rights and interests of women and children, training young people and on-the-job training, cultivating Europe, and modernizing culture and education. In addition, the EU has strengthened cultural exchanges and cooperation with candidate countries by signing bilateral and multilateral agreements, and increased cultural funding for these countries.
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Observing and analyzing international issues from a cultural perspective is an important feature of contemporary international political theory research, because "without understanding the cultural content of the international system, neither politicians nor realists can explain the behavior of modern countries and national systems." So is the study of European integration.
European integration has experienced a gradual deepening process from local economic fields to all economic fields, and then to political fields and security fields. Every step of integration is accompanied by cultural struggle and coordination among European countries. On the one hand, the common "European culture" that developed and prospered in European countries after the Renaissance promoted their closeness and integration; On the other hand, the deep-rooted "native" cultures of different nationalities make it inevitable that countries will collide and merge to some extent in the process of establishing a unified "European culture". It is in this process of "collision" and "integration" that European culture has achieved a certain degree of "homogenization" and become a mixture that is difficult to separate you from me. Practice has proved that cultural factors play a key role in the deepening of European integration. At the same time, in the continuous development of European integration, European culture itself has also undergone major changes, with greater inclusiveness and more colors. Like Daniel? Patrick? Moynihan pointed out that "conservatively speaking, the center of truth is culture, not politics, which plays a decisive role in the success of a society. Frankly speaking, the center of truth lies in that politics can change culture and prevent it from sinking. "
As an integral part of European integration, the EU's expansion is also greatly influenced by cultural factors, especially on the issue of EU's eastward expansion. Whether it is the previous acceptance of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Finland, or the current acceptance of ten countries in Eastern Europe, not to mention the future acceptance of Turkey, there are problems of cultural transformation and integration of the accepted people. Relatively speaking, economic and political transformation is much easier, and cultural transformation and integration is an extremely arduous and complicated process; Structural and institutional cultural transformation is much easier, and the change of people's values and ways of thinking is an extremely difficult process, which requires the efforts of several generations to complete.
With the further deepening and expansion of European integration, the cultural influence within the EU will become more and more prominent, and the cultural dispute will become more and more fierce. On the one hand, the diffusion and spillover of integration into the political and security fields will directly touch the core and the most sensitive part of the national sovereignty of EU member States, thus stimulating the nationalist nerves within each country, which will inevitably lead to the rebound of nationalism and even extreme nationalism (the rise of right-wing nationalist forces in Europe in recent years is the manifestation of this rebound). On the other hand, "every time we absorb some new members, it means increasing the diversity of isomorphism, and it also means adding some difficulties to the coordination and integration between different cultures." In this case, it will be more difficult to handle the relationship between the interests of the EU and the interests of all ethnic groups and countries, as well as the interests of new and old member States. In recent years, "the public opinion support rate of several major EU member States has declined to varying degrees, with Germany and Ireland dropping by 4 percentage points, Britain dropping by 3 percentage points and Greece dropping by 6 percentage points. The ratio of France to the expansion is 40:47. "This also means that the resistance to European integration will grow. However, the trend of European integration is irreversible, and common interests will bring European countries closer together on the basis of common culture.
The successful experience of European integration makes European culture have a great function of radiating and spreading outward, and its whole set of systems, rules, standards, values and civilized ideas are considered to be positive achievements in line with human interests and effective. Therefore, the EU's social system and values will directly affect other countries and regions, first of all, neighboring countries and regions, such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Mediterranean countries. Many of these countries have made it clear that they are willing to join European integration, and are actively moving closer to EU standards in practice. This is of great significance to further expand the international influence of the EU and improve its international status.