The euro and European identity: Symbols, power and the politics of European monetary union

Review of International Studies

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 2004, Pages

  Kaelberer, Matthias ^a  

^a IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 11144355938     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210504005996     Document Type: Review

References (66)

1. Benjamin J. Cohen, The Geography of Money (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998).
2. Eric Helleiner, 'Historicizing Territorial Currencies: Monetary Space and the Nation-State in North America', Political Geography, 18 (1999), p. 320.
3. For a superb description of the process of national monetary consolidation, see Eric Helleiner, The Making of National Money: Territorial Currencies in Historical Perspective (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
4. This point is made most explicitly in Emily Gilbert, 'Forging a National Currency: Money, State-Building and Nation-Making in Canada', in Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money: The Past, Present and Future of National Currencies (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 25-46; Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner, 'Introduction - Nation-States and Money: Historical Contexts, Interdisciplinary Perspectives', in Gilbert and Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money, pp. 1-21; Eric Helleiner, 'National Currencies and National Identities', American Behavioral Scientist, 41 (1998), pp. 1409-36; and Marcia Pointon, 'Money and Nationalism', in Geoffrey Cubitt (ed.), Imagining Nations (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 229-54.
5. This point is made most explicitly in Emily Gilbert, 'Forging a National Currency: Money, State-Building and Nation-Making in Canada', in Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money: The Past, Present and Future of National Currencies (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 25-46; Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner, 'Introduction - Nation-States and Money: Historical Contexts, Interdisciplinary Perspectives', in Gilbert and Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money, pp. 1-21; Eric Helleiner, 'National Currencies and National Identities', American Behavioral Scientist, 41 (1998), pp. 1409-36; and Marcia Pointon, 'Money and Nationalism', in Geoffrey Cubitt (ed.), Imagining Nations (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 229-54.
6. This point is made most explicitly in Emily Gilbert, 'Forging a National Currency: Money, State-Building and Nation-Making in Canada', in Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money: The Past, Present and Future of National Currencies (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 25-46; Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner, 'Introduction - Nation-States and Money: Historical Contexts, Interdisciplinary Perspectives', in Gilbert and Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money, pp. 1-21; Eric Helleiner, 'National Currencies and National Identities', American Behavioral Scientist, 41 (1998), pp. 1409-36; and Marcia Pointon, 'Money and Nationalism', in Geoffrey Cubitt (ed.), Imagining Nations (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 229-54.
7. This point is made most explicitly in Emily Gilbert, 'Forging a National Currency: Money, State-Building and Nation-Making in Canada', in Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money: The Past, Present and Future of National Currencies (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 25-46; Emily Gilbert and Eric Helleiner, 'Introduction - Nation-States and Money: Historical Contexts, Interdisciplinary Perspectives', in Gilbert and Helleiner (eds.), Nation-States and Money, pp. 1-21; Eric Helleiner, 'National Currencies and National Identities', American Behavioral Scientist, 41 (1998), pp. 1409-36; and Marcia Pointon, 'Money and Nationalism', in Geoffrey Cubitt (ed.), Imagining Nations (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 229-54.
8. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso, 1983).
9. Pointon, 'Money and Nationalism', p. 231.
10. Ibid., pp. 229-54.
11. Just to mention another peculiar aspect in this vein, the Confederate States of America and several southern state banks issued notes depicting romanticised images of slavery - obviously alluding to the significance of slavery as the economic foundation and common identity among the southern states. Again, this serves as another example of how their use of money reminds citizens on a daily basis about their membership in the collective entity of the nation. See: 〈http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/BeyondFaceValue/〉
12. Cohen, Geography of Money.
13. Wilfried Loth, 'Identity and Statehood in the Process of European Integration', Journal of European Integration History, 6 (2000), p. 22.
14. For a parallel argument about the emergence of the sovereign territorial state and its efforts at standardisation, see Hendrik Spruyt, The Sovereign State and its Competitors (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994).
15. Jerome Sheridan, 'The Déjà Vu of EMU: Considerations for Europe from Nineteenth Century America', Journal of Economic Issues, 30 (1996), pp. 1143-61.
16. On the distinction between sovereignty and authority, see Susan Strange, The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
17. Benjamin J. Cohen, 'Electronic Money: New Day or False Dawn?', Review of International Political Economy, 8 (Summer 2001), pp. 197-225, uses the model of a currency pyramid to explain the hierarchical elements of the current monetary system. Adding to Cohen's contemporary model, I argue that the monetary landscape has always been hierarchical. Contemporary processes of deterritorialisation only make this issue of asymmetry more visible and politically pertinent.
18. For the British and American position as monetary hegemons, see Barry Eichengreen, 'Hegemonic Stability Theories of the International Monetary System', in Richard N. Cooper, et al. (eds.), Can Nations Agree? Issues in International Economic Cooperation (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1989), pp. 255-98.
19. In the words of Elie Cohen, 'The Euro, Economic Federalism, and National Sovereignty', in Anthony Pagden (ed.) The Idea of Europe: From Antiquity to the European Union (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 265: 'The suspicion by the French of the French currency from 1945 to 1983, and their readiness ... to abandon the franc ... demonstrates that in France, the sacralization of the national currency is not as strong as it is in Germany.' Germany, of course, appears to be the exception among the EU members on this point. Pride in the deutschemark was arguably a part of German post-World War II identity. Ultimately, the strong European identity of Germany helped to overcome the constraints imposed by deutschemark nationalism. German political elites in part achieved this by promising merely to 'extend the deutschemark to the rest of Europe' and by establishing rules for monetary union that reflected German preferences for stability and central bank independence.
20. Richard Rosecrance, The Rise of the Virtual State: Wealth and Power in the Coming Century (New York: Basic Books, 1999) makes this point most explicitly for the international political economy.
21. Georg Simmel, The Philosophy of Money (London and New York: Routledge, 1978[1900]).
22. Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991), p. 18.
23. Jack Weatherford, The History of Money: From Sandstone to Cyberspace (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1997).
24. For the debate on electronic money, see Cohen, 'Electronic Money', pp. 197-225.
25. In contrast to the paper money, the coins' national sides allow countries to represent concrete entities, such as Queen Beatrix for the Netherlands, Botticelli's 'Venus' on the Italian 10 cent piece, or the Brandenburg Gate on German lower denomination coins.
26. European Central Bank, 'Euro Bank Notes and Coins' at 〈http://www.euro.ecb.int/en/section/euro/euro.html〉 (2002).
27. European Central Bank, 'Euro Bank Notes', 〈http://www.euro.ecb.int/ en/section/euro/banknote.html〉
28. European Central Bank, 'Euro Bank Notes', 〈http://www.euro.ecb.int/ en/section/testnotes.html〉
29. On the historical narratives at stake here, see Jan Ifversen, 'Europe and European Culture - A Conceptual Analysis', European Societies, 4 (2002), pp. 1-16.
30. Chris Shore, Building Europe: The Cultural Politics of European Integration (London and New York: Routledge, 2000).
31. The theme of money as a social relation was first developed by Simmel, Philosophy of Money. For contemporary interpretations, see Nigel Dood, The Sociology of Money: Economics, Reason and Contemporary Society (New York: Continuum, 1994) and Geoffrey Ingham, 'Money is a Social Relation', Review of Social Economy, 56 (1996), pp. 507-29.
32. The theme of money as a social relation was first developed by Simmel, Philosophy of Money. For contemporary interpretations, see Nigel Dood, The Sociology of Money: Economics, Reason and Contemporary Society (New York: Continuum, 1994) and Geoffrey Ingham, 'Money is a Social Relation', Review of Social Economy, 56 (1996), pp. 507-29.
33. The theme of money as a social relation was first developed by Simmel, Philosophy of Money. For contemporary interpretations, see Nigel Dood, The Sociology of Money: Economics, Reason and Contemporary Society (New York: Continuum, 1994) and Geoffrey Ingham, 'Money is a Social Relation', Review of Social Economy, 56 (1996), pp. 507-29.
34. Geoffrey Ingham, 'On the Underdevelopment of the "Sociology of Money"', Acta Sociologica, 41 (1998), p. 9.
35. S. Herbert Frankel, Money: Two Philosophies. The Conflict of Trust and Authority (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1977), p. 31.
36. Simmel, Philosophy of Money, p. 177.
37. On the issue of institutionalised trust see also Nigel Dodd, 'What is "Sociological" About the Euro?' European Societies, 3 (2001), pp. 23-39.
38. On the relationship between national and European identities see: Sophie Duchesne and Andre-Paul Frognier, 'Is There a European Identity?', in Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott (eds.), Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 193-226; Robert Hettlage, 'European Identity - Between Inclusion and Exclusion', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 243-62; Max Haller, 'Voiceless Submission or Deliberate Choice? European Integration and the Relation Between National and European Identity', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 263-96; Brigid Laffan, 'The Politics of Identity and Political Order in Europe', Journal of Common Market Studies, 34 (1996), pp. 81-102.
39. On the relationship between national and European identities see: Sophie Duchesne and Andre-Paul Frognier, 'Is There a European Identity?', in Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott (eds.), Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 193-226; Robert Hettlage, 'European Identity - Between Inclusion and Exclusion', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 243-62; Max Haller, 'Voiceless Submission or Deliberate Choice? European Integration and the Relation Between National and European Identity', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 263-96; Brigid Laffan, 'The Politics of Identity and Political Order in Europe', Journal of Common Market Studies, 34 (1996), pp. 81-102.
40. On the relationship between national and European identities see: Sophie Duchesne and Andre-Paul Frognier, 'Is There a European Identity?', in Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott (eds.), Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 193-226; Robert Hettlage, 'European Identity - Between Inclusion and Exclusion', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 243-62; Max Haller, 'Voiceless Submission or Deliberate Choice? European Integration and the Relation Between National and European Identity', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 263-96; Brigid Laffan, 'The Politics of Identity and Political Order in Europe', Journal of Common Market Studies, 34 (1996), pp. 81-102.
41. On the relationship between national and European identities see: Sophie Duchesne and Andre-Paul Frognier, 'Is There a European Identity?', in Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott (eds.), Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 193-226; Robert Hettlage, 'European Identity - Between Inclusion and Exclusion', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 243-62; Max Haller, 'Voiceless Submission or Deliberate Choice? European Integration and the Relation Between National and European Identity', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.) Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), pp. 263-96; Brigid Laffan, 'The Politics of Identity and Political Order in Europe', Journal of Common Market Studies, 34 (1996), pp. 81-102.
42. Loth, 'Identity and Statehood', p. 22.
43. Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Multi-Level Governance and European Integration (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) and Martin Kohli, 'The Battlegrounds of European Identity', European Societies, 2 (2000), pp. 113-37.
44. Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, Multi-Level Governance and European Integration (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) and Martin Kohli, 'The Battlegrounds of European Identity', European Societies, 2 (2000), pp. 113-37.
45. Quoted in Peter van Ham, 'Europe's Postmodern Identity: A Critical Appraisal', International Politics, 38 (2001), p. 242.
46. Jürgen Habermas, 'The European Nation-State: On the Past and Future of Sovereignty and Citizenship', Political Culture, 10 (1998), pp. 397-416.
47. Laura Cram, 'Imagining the Union: a Case of Banal Europeanism?' in Helen Wallace (ed.) Interlocking Dimensions of European Integration (New York: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 231-46.
48. Hanspeter Kriesi, 'Introduction: State Formation and Nation Building in the Swiss Case', in Hanspeter Kriesi et al. (eds.), Nation and National Identity: The European Experience in Perspective (Zürich: Verlag Rüegger, 1999), p. 24.
49. For research results along those lines see: Thomas Risse, 'A European Identity? Europeanization and the Evolution of Nation-State Identities', in Maria Green Cowles, James Caporaso and Thomas Risse (eds.) Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), pp. 198-216, and Thomas Risse et al., 'To Euro or Not to Euro: The EMU and Identity Politics in the European Union', European Journal of International Relations, 5 (1999), pp. 147-87.
50. For research results along those lines see: Thomas Risse, 'A European Identity? Europeanization and the Evolution of Nation-State Identities', in Maria Green Cowles, James Caporaso and Thomas Risse (eds.) Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), pp. 198-216, and Thomas Risse et al., 'To Euro or Not to Euro: The EMU and Identity Politics in the European Union', European Journal of International Relations, 5 (1999), pp. 147-87.
51. See, for example: Laffan, 'Politics of Identity', pp. 81-102, and Ulrike Liebert, 'Constructing EMU: Euro-Scepticism and the Emerging European Public Space', in Lars Magnusson and Bo Strath (eds.), From the Werner Plan to the EMU: In Search of a Political Economy for Europe (Brussels: PIE Lang, 2001), pp. 271-300.
52. See, for example: Laffan, 'Politics of Identity', pp. 81-102, and Ulrike Liebert, 'Constructing EMU: Euro-Scepticism and the Emerging European Public Space', in Lars Magnusson and Bo Strath (eds.), From the Werner Plan to the EMU: In Search of a Political Economy for Europe (Brussels: PIE Lang, 2001), pp. 271-300.
53. For an analysis of American money debates, see Gretchen Ritter, Goldbugs and Greenbacks: The Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
54. International monetary power is, of course, not the only incentive for EMU. There is a wide array of motivations for EMU. For an analysis of incentives, see Andrew Moravcsik, The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power From Messina to Maastricht (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998).
55. See for example the data reported in Liebert, 'Constructing EMU', pp. 271-300, and Hooghe and Marks, Multi-Level Governance.
56. See for example the data reported in Liebert, 'Constructing EMU', pp. 271-300, and Hooghe and Marks, Multi-Level Governance.
57. James A. Caporaso, 'The European Union and Forms of State: Westphalian, Regulatory or Post-Modern?' Journal of Common Market Studies, 34 (1996), pp. 29-52.
58. Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal, 'Locating Europe', European Societies, 4 (2002), p. 272.
59. Laffan, 'Politics of Identity', p. 81.
60. Amy Verdun and Thomas Christiansen, 'The Legitimacy of the Euro: An Inverted Process?', Current Politics and Economics of Europe, 10 (2001), p. 267.
61. For a well-argued rejection of the 'no demos' thesis, see Jürgen Habermas, 'Why Europe Needs a Constitution', New Left Review, 11 (September-October 2001), pp. 5-26. Along similar lines of argument see Soysal, 'Locating Europe'.
62. For a well-argued rejection of the 'no demos' thesis, see Jürgen Habermas, 'Why Europe Needs a Constitution', New Left Review, 11 (September-October 2001), pp. 5-26. Along similar lines of argument see Soysal, 'Locating Europe'.
63. The EMS functioned asymmetrically in the sense that the Bundesbank set monetary policy for the rest of Europe. Other participants in the EMS had to follow German preferences or were effectively forced to leave. The fact that Germany set the floor of interest rates in the EMS is an example of the former; the currency crisis of 1992/3 is a vivid example of the latter. On the asymmetry of the EMS, see Matthias Kaelberer, Money and Power in Europe: The Political Economy of European Monetary Cooperation (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001).
64. Kenneth Dyson, 'EMU as Europeanization: Convergence, Diversity and Contingency', Journal of Common Market Studies, 38 (2000), p. 658.
65. See, for example: Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (eds.), The Mechanics of Internationalism: Culture, Society, and Politics from the 1840s to the First World War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
66. Loth, 'Identity and Statehood', pp. 19-31.