Description
How do divergent interpretations of European identity impact the EU’s foreign policy? The EU’s identity is said to shape its character as a ‘normative actor’ promoting universal democratic values, including to its southern neighbourhood. Yet a competing civilizationist version of European identity is increasingly invoked on the radical right, and frames Europe as defined by ‘Judeo-Christian’ values and threatened by non-European cultures, especially Islam. Drawing on role theory, this paper argues that rising, radical civilizationist interpretations of European identity are undermining any normative consensus about Europe’s roles and responsibilities. These identity variations shape divergent responses to foreign policy challenges, and this can be seen through the impact on attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian arena. In Judeo-Christian civilizationist discourse, Israel is championed as the West’s bulwark against militant Islam, prompting broad support for Israeli government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. The growing influence of civilizationist discourse on attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian arena are illustrated through a case study of Austria’s 2017-2019 ÖVP-FPÖ coalition, based on in-depth elite interviews. The FPÖ – motivated by anti-Islamic politics and a desire to detoxify from its anti-Semitic roots –adopted Judeo-Christian civilizationist discourse to reframe Jews and Israel as part of the European civilizational family, in opposition to Islam. This made possible a convergence with the ÖVP on this issue, and enabled a platform of unprecedented rhetorical and diplomatic support for the Netanyahu government. This further undermined the potential for unity among EU members in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.
