Space, Culture, and Boundary: Projecting Europe Abroad

Abstract

The inability of Europe to construct a military force or a common foreign policy contrasts with the dominant vision it produces. The European Union does not have to defend its borders, NATO is in charge of that, and one of the principal powers, Germany, was long since deprived by its constitution of any possibility of participating in foreign military action. Only France and Great Britain possess credible means of intervention, but in the case of the Gulf War of 1991 or the crises in Bosnia and Afghanistan, their mobilization could only be envisaged in conjunction with the United States. European space is scarcely unified except by its fears, about drugs, terrorism, or illegal immigration. This leads the Union to organize itself internally and therefore offers the outside world the image of a rational edifice that rejects anything that is foreign to it. This approach based on collective fear leads to structuring monitoring activity, already now largely transferred beyond its borders for reasons that are both internal and external. The imposition of visas granted in advance (and parsimoniously) transfers the restrictions to the offices of diplomatic services and especially to airline counters.