The Post-war European Project: A Topography Divorced from Nationhood

Abstract

Britain and Italy have developed very different post-war trajectories, understanding Europe in divergent ways. Those collective memories resurface in newspaper articles, which often reaffirm a sense of nationhood—while quietly sidelining some Europe-related elements that do not suit the national narrative. That last draft of history, in newspapers, often reaffirms an understanding of the EU that the readership already hears—while other soundings grow muted. The post-war European project has never reconciled fully the competing positions on how to develop. Britain supports inter-governmentalism and co-operation—while Italy, traditionally at least federalist, seeks much closer union. And so competing notions of that Europe vie for attention in newspaper copy.