ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship of boundary-making and identity construction. It examines how external shocks – the global financial crisis, violent conflicts in the neighbourhood and migration flows – have influenced the European Union (EU) borders and identity. The chapter argues that the EU's strength rested not only on material or institutional capabilities but also on the set of norms and values it proposed: the rule of law, democracy, solidarity and open borders most prominent among them. The EU envisaged Europe as an growing integrated space, where people can move freely and enjoy a similar set of economic, social and political rights. The failure of the European Neighbourhood Policy is an example of how the predicament of Europe's identity formation impacted on the EU's foreign policy. The multiple, open-ended and variable identities observed in the EU are also more common in empires than states.
