Europe and the Human Rights Imaginary

摘要: During the last decade, debates about the meaning of Europe have been prominent in various disciplines (Christiansen et al. 2001; Malmborg and Stråth 2002; De Teyssier and Baudier 2006; Wilson and Millar 2007). With the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to 28 Member States, discussions about what exactly Europe is and where it is going are gaining importance (Stråth 2006). EU enlargement as well as growing internal and external immigration have greatly increased Europe’s social, cultural and religious heterogeneity. Within Europe, there are different reactions to these evolutions. On the one hand, populist and nationalist politics draw strong boundaries between ‘Europe’and the ‘other,’which is illustrated by the agitated debates on the regulation of Muslim immigration and the accession of Turkey. On the other hand, more “cosmopolitan” European politics calls for “openness” as well as political and …