Conclusion - Good Europeans?

Summary

Surveying the history of the idea of Europe from its origins to the present day reveals a profoundly troubling pattern, namely that, all too often, seemingly progressive ideas of Europe have been shaped by Eurocentric, culturally supremacist, and even racist assumptions. Even the championing of rationality, justice, democracy, individual freedom, secularism, and tolerance as what Tzvetan Todorov terms “European values” can contribute to this Eurocentric and Euro-supremacist tendency. The Conclusion reflects upon the challenge posed by such a history, and argues against the longstanding conviction that a cosmopolitan idea of Europe is diametrically opposed to what thinkers such as Denis de Rougemont dismiss as an “anti-European” nationalism. Rather, it is essential to acknowledge that throughout its history the idea of Europe has been for the most part Eurocentric, Euro-supremacist, and Euro-universalist. If the idea of Europe is to warrant any future, it must be shaped by a spirit of self-critique and by an openness to those cultures that have for so long been dismissed as non-European. That, the Conclusion argues, is the key lesson to be learned from the history of the idea of Europe across two and a half millennia.