European Solidarity

摘要

As editor and author, Nathalie Karagiannis asserts in her introduction to this volume that it is the reaction to two events-the launch, preparation and failure of the Europeanrnconstitution and the 'largely Anglo-American' war on Iraq that began in 2003-through which solidarity has been recently 'revived and placed centre stage,' initiating in turn a wider debate about Europe, notably by Habermas and the late Derrida. Reigniting the solidarity flame in political discourse and scholarly debate also exposed several obstacles: in fact two terms, 'solidarity' and 'European solidarity' were being bandied about, meant to reflect some kind of empirical reality and normative commitment on the part of 'us Europeans.' The subsequent 'relaunch' of the concept in disciplines such as development cooperation, humanitarian aid and social policy has occurred in light of a growing resistance to neo-liberal policy.