Lecture 1
Importance of defining Europe
- To outline the limits of what we are studying in this course
- To distinguish what is European from what is not
- To understand that the term ‘European’ encompasses a broad spectrum of
characteristics
- To better grasp when it would be appropriate to compare and contrast specific states
from particular parts of Europe
Define Europe: Criteria
- Geographic criteria
- cultural/identity criteria
- Political criteria
- Economic criteria
Geography
- Europe is “the continent that is to the east of the Atlantic Ocean, to the north of the
Mediterranean, and to the west of Asia”
Political Geography
- Geographic Europe includes countries that are challenged to be called “European” in
political context (e.g. Russia, Belarus, Turkey)
- What defines Europe?
- Common borders
- Common politics
- Common currency
- Key defining European features
- The European Union
- The Schengen area
- The Euro zone
- Are geographically different
Define Europe: Former Soviet Republics
- Russia
- Too big to define? More European or Asian?
- Belarus
- The “last European dictatorship”
- Ukraine
- At crossroads, European identity vs. Soviet legacies
- Moldova
- Too close, too hard
- The Baltic states
- Success stories
, - North Caucasus
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
Europe: Geographic Definition
- Advantages
- Definite
- Methodologically consistent
- Relatively simple
- Disadvantages
- Ambiguous cases (ex. Turkey, Russia)
- Changing circumstances
- Artificial nature of delineation
Europe: Culture
- Socially constructed
- Relative and open to interpretation
- Focus on identity (‘us’ vs. ‘them’) and values (which ones and defined by whom?)
European Culture: Languages
- Germanic languages (200 million speakers)
- German, English, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic
- In British Isles, Scandinavia, and Central Europe (north)
- Romance Languages (200 million speakers)
- Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Roman
- Spoken throughout Southern Europe
- Slavic Languages (80 million)
- Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovenian
- Roman Catholic countries use Latin alphabet; Eastern Orthodox countries use
Cyrillic (Greek) alphabet
European Culture: Religion
- Europe becoming a secularized society
- Secularization
- Movement away from traditional organized religions
- Roman Catholicism (250 million)
- Italy, Spain, Ireland, France, Austria, southern Germany, Poland, Croatia,
Czech Republic, Hungary (south)
- Conflict in Northern Ireland has religious component
- Protestantism (100 million)
- Northern Germany, Scandinavia, England
- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (212 million)
- Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine,
Moldova, and Bulgaria
Importance of defining Europe
- To outline the limits of what we are studying in this course
- To distinguish what is European from what is not
- To understand that the term ‘European’ encompasses a broad spectrum of
characteristics
- To better grasp when it would be appropriate to compare and contrast specific states
from particular parts of Europe
Define Europe: Criteria
- Geographic criteria
- cultural/identity criteria
- Political criteria
- Economic criteria
Geography
- Europe is “the continent that is to the east of the Atlantic Ocean, to the north of the
Mediterranean, and to the west of Asia”
Political Geography
- Geographic Europe includes countries that are challenged to be called “European” in
political context (e.g. Russia, Belarus, Turkey)
- What defines Europe?
- Common borders
- Common politics
- Common currency
- Key defining European features
- The European Union
- The Schengen area
- The Euro zone
- Are geographically different
Define Europe: Former Soviet Republics
- Russia
- Too big to define? More European or Asian?
- Belarus
- The “last European dictatorship”
- Ukraine
- At crossroads, European identity vs. Soviet legacies
- Moldova
- Too close, too hard
- The Baltic states
- Success stories
, - North Caucasus
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
Europe: Geographic Definition
- Advantages
- Definite
- Methodologically consistent
- Relatively simple
- Disadvantages
- Ambiguous cases (ex. Turkey, Russia)
- Changing circumstances
- Artificial nature of delineation
Europe: Culture
- Socially constructed
- Relative and open to interpretation
- Focus on identity (‘us’ vs. ‘them’) and values (which ones and defined by whom?)
European Culture: Languages
- Germanic languages (200 million speakers)
- German, English, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic
- In British Isles, Scandinavia, and Central Europe (north)
- Romance Languages (200 million speakers)
- Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Roman
- Spoken throughout Southern Europe
- Slavic Languages (80 million)
- Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovenian
- Roman Catholic countries use Latin alphabet; Eastern Orthodox countries use
Cyrillic (Greek) alphabet
European Culture: Religion
- Europe becoming a secularized society
- Secularization
- Movement away from traditional organized religions
- Roman Catholicism (250 million)
- Italy, Spain, Ireland, France, Austria, southern Germany, Poland, Croatia,
Czech Republic, Hungary (south)
- Conflict in Northern Ireland has religious component
- Protestantism (100 million)
- Northern Germany, Scandinavia, England
- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (212 million)
- Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine,
Moldova, and Bulgaria
