Cross-border people mobility has long been seen as a promising method to promote European integration. In this article, I test the premise that the ERASMUS student experience abroad and direct interpersonal contact promote a European identity. The results draw from a two-wave longitudinal survey on two samples of ERASMUS students who studied in continental Europe and England, respectively. Although studying abroad led to increased socializing with other Europeans, contact with host country students remained limited. The paired sample t-tests reveal that ERASMUS does not strengthen students’ European identity; on the contrary, it can have an adverse effect on it. Nevertheless, the regression analyses show that increased socializing with Europeans has a positive, though modest, impact on European identity.
Adonnino P. ( 1985) A people’s Europe: Reports from the ad hoc committee . Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement no. 78/85.
2.
Allport GW ( 1954) The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
3.
Amir Y. ( 1969) Contact hypothesis in ethnic relations. Psychological Bulletin71(5): 319-342.
4.
Beetham D., Lord C. ( 1998) Legitimacy and the European Union. London: Longman.
5.
Bellamy R., Castiglione D. ( 2003) Legitimizing the Euro-‘Polity’ and its ‘Regime’ . European Journal of Political Theory2(1): 7-34.
6.
Bochner S. ( 1982) The social psychology of cross-cultural relations . In: Bochner S (ed.) Cultures in Contact. Oxford: Pergamon Press , 5-44.
7.
Brown R., Zagefka H. ( 2005) Ingroup affiliations and prejudice. In: Dovidio J, Glick P, and Rudman L (eds) On the Nature of Prejudice. Oxford: Blackwell , 54-67.
8.
Bruter M. ( 2005) Citizens of Europe?Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan.
9.
Castiglione D.(2009) Political identity in a community of strangers. In: Checkel J, Katzenstein P (eds) European Identity. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 29-51.
10.
Cinnirella M. ( 1997) Towards a European Identity? Interactions between the national and European social identities manifested by students in Britain and Italy. British Journal of Social Psychology36(1): 19-31.
11.
Citrin J., Sides J. ( 2004) More than nationals: How identity choice matters in New Europe. In: Herrman R, Risse T, and Brewer M (eds) Transnational Identities. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 161-185.
12.
Commission of the European Communities (1986 ) Proposal for a Council Decision Adopting the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus). COM (85): 756/2 final.
13.
Commission of the European Union (2008) Erasmus Statistics. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/doc/stat/table1.pdf .
14.
Connor W. ( 1972) Nation-building or nation-destroying? World Politics24(3): 319-355.
15.
Council of Ministers (1987) Council Decision of 15 June 1987 Adopting the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS). Official Journal of the European Communities166: 20-24.
16.
D’Apollonia AC ( 2002) European nationalism and European Union. In: Pagden A (ed.) The Idea of Europe . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 171-190.
17.
Decker F. ( 2002) Governance beyond the nation-state. Reflections on the democratic deficit of theEuropean Union. Journal of European Public Policy9(2): 256-272.
18.
Delanty G. ( 2007) Europeanization and democracy: The question of cultural identity. In: DeBardeleben J, Hurrelmann A (eds) Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 77-93.
19.
Deutsch K. ( 1966[1953]) Nationalism and Social Communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
20.
Deutsch K., Burrel SA, Kann RA, et al (1968[1957]) Political Community and the North Atlantic Area. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
21.
Dovidio J., Glick P., and Rudman L. ( 2005) On the Nature of Prejudice. Oxford : Blackwell.
22.
Easton D. ( 1965) A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
23.
Eller A., Abrams D. ( 2004) Come together: Longitudinal comparisons of Pettigrew’s reformulated intergroup contact model and the common ingroup identity model in Anglo-French and Mexican-American contexts. European Journal of Social Psychology34(3): 229-256.
24.
Eriksen EO, Fossum JE ( 2007) Europe in Transformation. RECON Online Working Paper no. 1. Available at: www.reconproject.eu.
25.
Etzioni A. ( 2007) The community deficit. Journal of Common Market Studies45(1): 23-42.
26.
European Council (1983) Solemn declaration on European Union. Bulletin of the European Communities , no. 6/1983.
27.
Featherstone K. ( 1994) Jean Monnet and the ‘Democratic Deficit’ in theEuropean Union. Journal of Common Market Studies32(2): 149-170.
28.
Figel J. ( 2006) My vision for European student mobility in the next decade . Speech at the UK Erasmus Student Committee Conference, EUROPA Press Releases no. 06/398.
29.
Fligstein N. ( 2008) Euro-Clash: The EU, European Identity, and the Future of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
30.
Fuchs D., Guinaudeau I., and Schubert S. ( 2009) National identity, European identity and Euroscepticism . In: Fuchs D, Magni-Berton R, and Rogers A (eds) Euroscepticism. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, 91-112.
31.
Gaertner S., Dovidio J. ( 2000) Reducing Intergroup Bias. Philadelphia , PA: Psychology Press.
32.
Green D. ( 2007) The Europeans: Political Identity in an Emerging Polity . London: Lynne Rienner .
33.
Habermas J. ( 2001) Why Europe needs a constitution. New Left Review11: 5-26.
Hobsbawm E. ( 1992) Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
King R., Ruiz-Gelices E. ( 2003) International student migration and the European ‘year abroad’: Effects on European identity and subsequent migration behaviour . International Journal of Population Geography9(3): 229-252.
37.
Kohn H. ( 1955) Nationalism. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
38.
Kraus P. ( 2008) A Union of Diversity: Language, Identity and Polity-Building in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Krämer-Byrne S. ( 2002) The Experience of Female ERASMUS Students in Higher Education . Birmingham: University of Birmingham .
40.
Lijphart A. ( 1964) ‘Tourist traffic and integration potential’ . Journal of Common Market Studies2(3): 251-261.
41.
McLaren L. ( 2006) Identity, Interests and Attitudes to European Integration . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan .
42.
Marks G. ( 1999) Territorial identities in the European Union. In: Anderson J (ed.) Regional Integration and Democracy. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 69-91.
43.
Mather J. ( 2006) Legitimating the European Union. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan.
44.
Meyer C. ( 1999) Political legitimacy and the invisibility of politics: Exploring the European Union’s communication deficit. Journal of Common Market Studies37(4): 617-639.
45.
Menard S. ( 1991) Longitudinal Research - Sage University Papers on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 07(76). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
46.
Merritt R. ( 1972) Effects of international students exchange. In: Merritt R (ed.) Communication in International Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 65-94.
47.
Mill JS ( 1996 [1861]) Nationality. In: Woolf S (ed.) Nationalism in Europe, 1815 to the Present. London: Routledge , 40-47.
48.
Obradovic D. ( 1996) Policy legitimacy and theEuropean Union. Journal of Common Market Studies34(2): 191-217.
49.
Otero MS, McCoshan A. ( 2006) Survey of the Socio-Economic Background of ERASMUS Students . Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/survey06.pdf.
50.
Petit I. ( 2007) Mimicking history: The European Commission and its education policy. World Political Science Review3(1): 1-24.
Renan E. ( 1996 [1882]) What is a nation? In: Woolf S (ed.) Nationalism in Europe, 1815 to the PresentLondon: Routledge , 48-60.
53.
Risse T. ( 2002) Nationalism and collective identities: Europe versus the nation-state? In: Heywood P, Jones E, and Rhodes M (eds) Developments in West European Politics vol 2. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 77-93.
54.
Rubio, JGdG, Allue MTD, and Mullet E. ( 2002) Studying, working, and living in another country: Spanish youth’s point of view. Journal of European Integration24(1): 53-67.
55.
Shore C. ( 2000) Building Europe: The Cultural Politics of European Integration . London: Routledge .
56.
Smith A. ( 1995) Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era. Cambridge: Polity.
57.
Stangor C., Jonas K., Stroebe W., et al (1996) Influence of student exchange on national stereotypes, attitudes and perceived group variability. European Journal of Social Psychology26(4): 663-675.
58.
Stroebe W., Lenkert A., and Jonas K. ( 1988) Familiarity may breed contempt: The impact of student exchange on national stereotypes and attitudes. In: Stroebe W, Kruglanski A, Bar-Tal D, et al (eds) The Social Psychology of Intergroup Conflict. London: Springer, 167-187.
59.
Tajfel H. ( 1978) Differentiation between Social Groups. London: Academic Press.
60.
Wallace W. ( 1990) The Transformation of Western Europe. London: Pinter.
61.
Ward C., Bochner S., and Furnham A. ( 2001) The Psychology of Culture Shock. Hove : Routledge.
62.
Weiler JHH ( 1997) To be a european citizen - Eros and civilization . Journal of European Public Policy4(4): 495-519.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
