25.02.2025

New publication ‘Shades of Blue. Claiming Europe in the Age of Disintegration’

The volume ‘Shades of Blue. Claiming Europe in the Age of Disintegration’ by Félix Krawatzek, Friedemann Pestel, Rieke Trimçev and Gregor Feindt, research associate at the IEG, has been published by Cornell University Press.
In ‘Shades of Blue’, the authors investigate the political project of ‘Europe’ as it oscillates between the extremes of expectations of an ever-wider integration and fear of disintegration. They interrogate and chart the space between these polarities by tracking the many competing conceptions of Europe in European public discourse and relate these meanings to national, regional, and ideological divisions.

Based on qualitative discourse analyses of newspaper articles from six European Union member states between 2004 and 2023, ‘Shades of Blue’ shifts how we think about Europe's integration and disintegration and offers a new perspective on Europeanization. With twelve debates chronicling Europe's past and discussing the implications for Europe's future, these authors uncover how politicians, intellectuals, and journalists negotiate European senses of belonging. ‘Shades of Blue’ moves beyond the binaries of hope and despair to uncover a more nuanced picture of Europe.

Co-author Gregor Feindt joined the Leibniz Institute of European History in 2014. Since November 2021, he is also an associated member of collaborative research centre 1482 human differentiation.