Europe as a Cold War construction

pp. 115-129

in: Gérard Delanty, Inventing Europe, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1995

Abstract

There is another sense apart from the political in which it is possible to speak of Europe as a construction. Europe is also a cultural construction. In this the United States played a leading role. To Americans Europe was a unitary and homogeneous entity and served as a racial myth of national origins. The chapter begins by looking at the representation of Europe in the American historical imagination. It focuses, more specifically, on the theme of the western frontier as a myth of civilisational origins. The central theme of the chapter is the role the Cold War played in constructing the identity of Europe as part of the bi-polar system of West versus East. Finally, the issue of post-fascist European identity in relation to the German question and the foundation of the European Community is considered.