Constructing Europe’s identity : the external dimension

Departing from traditional analyses based on internal measures, this book explores the creation of a European identity through the EU's interaction with the external environment. The book concentrates on three broad areas - socioeconomic issues, foreign and security policy, and home affairs - each associated with a Maastricht pillar. The authors assess not only the benefits, but also the costs of attempts to assert a European identity. Referring to debates about the respective merits of deepening and widening, they address the equally important associated tradeoffs between exclusion and dilution: they point to the risks on the one hand of a Europe that excludes foreign goods, immigrants and entire countries, and on the other of an unfocused definition of Europe that may dilute the very values that a ""European identity"" is intended to protect.