Normative Power Europe: A Transdisciplinary Approach to European Studies

The chapter develops a normative power approach to European studies that can be applied across and beyond its constitutive disciplines in order to interrogate and transgress the ideas and spaces on/of Europe. In four parts the chapter explores the terms ‘normative', ‘power', and ‘Europe', before applying the approach to an example. In each part one of the terms is explored as a means of illustrating how such a transdisciplinary approach may contribute to understanding Europe. Part one examines three different approaches to normative ethics - ‘virtues', ‘deontology', and ‘consequentialism' - in order to make sense of ideas of the common good. Part two looks at three different types of power - ‘relational', ‘structural', and ‘normative' - as a means of understanding the power of ideas of the common good. Part three considers three different means of understanding Europe - ‘civilizational', ‘categorical', and ‘cultural' - to show how the power of ideas of the common good shape our means of comprehending contemporary Europe. Part four attempts to apply the approach to the question of a European counter-terrorist response. This example was chosen because of the challenges it presents to contemporary Europe and as a means of illustrating the way a normative power Europe approach opens up transdisciplinary thinking across and beyond disciplinary thinking