Abstract
The title of this essay is meant to surprise, disturb and hopefully intrigue the student of international relations. The title might be said to be trying to ‘make strange’ the familiar features of this field of study1. Strange or unusual approaches may produce strange or unusual responses; different ways of thinking about the complex European political environment in which we live. By focusing upon identities in Europe and by making the peculiar claim that these can be ‘read’ in some way, this essay tries to challenge our established way of thinking about European politics and to open up issues previously marginalised or disregarded. The essay begins by discussing what we mean by identity in international relations, turns to the idea that we can think about ‘Europe’ as a text and then considers the various textualities or ways that this political text can be ‘read’ and ‘re-read’.
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Notes
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© 1996 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Renwick, N. (1996). Re-reading Europe’s Identities. In: Krause, J., Renwick, N. (eds) Identities in International Relations. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25194-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25194-0_8
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