Subjugation angst: memory and Europeanisation of foreign policymaking in Slovenia and Croatia

<p>The past and its remembrance possess an incredible power to influence the present. The field of foreign policy is not immune to the forces of history and a vast body of literature invokes collective memory—an intersubjectively shared narrative construction of the past—to explain states’ int...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zivec, K
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2021
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Summary:<p>The past and its remembrance possess an incredible power to influence the present. The field of foreign policy is not immune to the forces of history and a vast body of literature invokes collective memory—an intersubjectively shared narrative construction of the past—to explain states’ international and foreign policy behaviour. The European Union is often called a community of memory, yet EU Members’ national collective memories differ substantially and persistently. Similarly, although the EU strives for unity in foreign policymaking, a truly Europeanised foreign policy has not yet emerged. To determine whether the parallel fractures in the EU’s respective memory and foreign policy communities are interrelated, this dissertation investigates the question: <em>How does national collective memory influence EU Members’ Europeanisation of foreign policymaking?</em> Whilst conventional scholarship emphasizes the influence of collective memory on foreign policy outcomes, the remembrance approach advanced in this dissertation reveals its influence on the foreign policymaking process. More specifically, I argue that national collective memory shapes national role conception which influences the extent of EU Member’s Europeanisation of foreign policymaking, as well as its crystallisation through uploading or downloading. The research design features an asymmetric comparative case study of the principal case of Slovenia and supplementary case of Croatia. It utilises a plethora of documentary primary sources, as well as conducts original empirical research in the form of elite interviews and questionnaire responses. Empirical findings support the theorised influence of collective memory on the Europeanisation of foreign policymaking and unveil that it is particularly remembrance of <em>co- opted subjugation</em> in Slovenia and Croatia that is informative for state practice.</p>