The European international identity considered from outside

The concept of identity is currently one of the most discussed in the social sciences. Its use within debates concerning regional contexts — for instance, the European Union (EU) — has resulted in several interesting works, which demonstrate its relevance in the field of international relations. ¹ On the ground, questions of identity have arisen again since the end of the Cold War, when so-called 'ethnic conflicts' and wars justified in terms of identity broke out again, no longer frozen by the two superpowers (Kaldor 1999). In addition, postmodern theories of international relations differ from other approaches in their assertion of identity as a strong affecting factor in the definition of actors' international strategies (Checkel 1998: 325—7; Wendt 1999).