'An uplifting tale of Europe'. Jacques Delors and the contradictory quest for a European social model in the Age of Reagan†. (3rd July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bitumi, Alessandra
• Is Part Of: Journal of transatlantic studies. Volume 16:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 203
• Page End: 221
• Publication Date: 2018-07-03
• Subjects: Jacques Delors -- European integration -- Reaganism -- Europe social model -- narratives; Europe -- Foreign relations -- United States -- Periodicals; United States -- Foreign relations -- Europe -- Periodicals; 327.407
• DOI: 10.1080/14794012.2018.1482709
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1479-4012

Abstract

Abstract : Based on the personal papers of Jacques Delors, this article discusses the origins and significance of Delors's ambition to provide a renewed and updated form of socially embedded capitalism, within the framework of the Atlantic Community in the 1980s. Engaging in a political and intellectual battle against 'Reaganism', the President of the European Commission tried to draw the boundaries of Europe's alleged distinctiveness, turning this imagined Europe into a project for the future. The article reveals how the 'Social nature' of Europe, ubiquitously and conveniently opposed to the neoliberal character of US capitalism, has been the pillar of a long popular exceptionalist narrative that became hegemonic, in the EU and progressively worldwide, in the 'age of Delors'.