University of Sussex
Browse
The Crisis of Europe article accepted July 2017.pdf (611.6 kB)

The current crisis of Europe: refugees, colonialism, and the limits of cosmopolitanism

Download (611.6 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 08:13 authored by Gurminder BhambraGurminder Bhambra
‘Cosmopolitan Europe’, the normative commitment that is widely understood to undergird the project of the European Union, is under threat as never before. This is manifest perhaps most prominently in Europe’s collective failure to respond to the crisis for refugees. As people flee war and destruction, we, in Europe, debate whether now is the time to give up on our human rights commitments. France is under a state of emergency and the UK in the process of withdrawing from the European Union and its associated institutions (including the European Convention on Human Rights). Voices have been raised against the burdens, financial and social, placed upon us by those we see as Other, with few public voices calling for Europe to remember its traditions of hospitality and stated commitments to human rights. In this article, I discuss the growing distance between the claims and practices of European cosmopolitanism, its roots in our shared colonial past, and the implications for the future.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

European Law Journal

ISSN

1351-5993

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Issue

5

Volume

23

Page range

395-405

Department affiliated with

  • Geography Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-10-10

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-09-01

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-10-09

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC