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Course B: Politics

European Values – a potential for European identity or a problem for intercultural dialogue?

For many years, EU-Member states have struggled to strike the right balance between allowing ‘guest workers’ and immigrants to live their own cultural identity, and integrating them into the ‘host society’. Due to negative globalisation effects, ongoing worldwide conflicts and islamic terrorism spreading after 9/11, migration pressures felt within EU-populations have even continued to increase. On top of that, the process of EU-enlargement went on to include 12 formerly socialist/communist countries from Estonia to Romania, thereby making the basis for cooperation and unification more diverse than ever.

It is against this complex background that the notion of ‘European identity’ and, for that matter, of ‘European values’, have become fashionable. They ranked high on the list of binding factors that were supposed to create support for the Constitution. With cultural-historical research about the European nature of these values, some scholars intended to prove for example that Turkey doesn’t belong to the European community, whereas others came to opposite results. Critical observers of European ‘mythmaking’ such as Garton Ash and Dahrendorf argued in favour of an open-minded, free and wide concept of Europe rather than an excluding, narrow-minded European Union.
In this year’s political summer course, the challenge of intercultural dialogue in a diverse Europe relying a.o. upon European values is the topic. The first week is dedicated to what famous authors and musicians from Weimar such as Herder, Goethe and Liszt contributed to an understanding of global citizenship, to dialogue with Islam or the appreciation of diverse musical traditions within Europe. You will have the unique opportunity to visit the Goethe-Schiller Archives and see the original texts, before reading and working with parts of them in the Anna Amalia Library. The focus of attention will be the question, whether and what we can learn from the past thinking and approach taken when dealing with intercultural dialogue for political functions today. Besides that, issues in the context of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue will be addressed in a workshop, such as the rules of communication, the meaning of respect and empathy for the variety of cultures, and the need for mutual awareness of one’s own and other identities. Filmed examples of good practice, together with suggestions on how to implement intercultural dialogue in adult education, will round up the first week.

Bridged by common discussion of political and scientific disputes about whether European values or rather intercultural dialogue should drive the future EU-course, the second week will focus on how to deal with the new diversity of values within Europe. You will get to know the Atlas of European Values Study when doing your own survey, comparing it with the average results in your country and with results elsewhere in Europe and beyond. On the basis of identity and value maps drawn from the results, closer observations by a leading author of the Value Study will be given about whether a European identity is emerging, and to what extent it may be shared by people with a migration background.

As a next step, we will investigate where Europe’s need for intercultural dialogue is compelling. Facing many citizens from ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU-member states who have been socialised in rival systems for decades, a round table with observers from media and culture will take place to cast more light upon how the influence of this heritage affects diversity management within the EU. Along with European values, also efforts to discern the EU from the USA by stressing the social market, the environmental considerations and the absence of the death penalty, are in fashion. In part because of that, the transatlantic bridge looses strength, which calls for a renewed intercultural dialogue as well. The same applies to the relationship of Europe with the Middle East. Here we will direct the attention to dominating attitudes and perceptions on either side towards so-called ‘Western’ and ‘Islamic’societies respectively, and deal with questions such as: what significance does the European Islam have for this dialogue, how to have both EU and Middle East countries fully adopt equal rights for men and women, etc.

Besides inspiring experts and exchanges with participants, you will experience Erfurt, the wonderful capital of Thüringen, in a full day of visits to institutions and civil society initiatives dealing with integration and intercultural dialogue.

Bearing in mind the ambivalent effects of European values shown before, participants will finally do a ‘Lower-House’ debating contest, defending or offending the alleged problem they pose to European identity and/or intercultural dialogue.

download schedule for this course.

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