In Search of a European Identity
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Author | Ian Ward |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1994.tb01943.x |
REVIEW ARTICLE
In Search
of
a European Identity
Ian
Ward”
Jacques Derridu,
The Other Heading: Reflections on Today’s Europe,
translated by P-A Brault and
M.
Naas, Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1992,
lix
+
129
pp, hb
€13.50.
Discovering critical approaches to European legal studies is, to use Eisenhower’s
familiar adage, like trying to catch lightning in a bottle
-
possible but it just never
seems to happen. There are, of course, one or two notable exceptions, but it is fair
to say that, to the extent that we in the UK encounter theoretical and critical
approaches to Community law, it tends to be necessarily through the translation of
continental writings.’
Of
course, the reason for this in substantial part is the
notorious paucity of critical approaches in
UK
law as a whole. Again, there are
exceptions, but relative to critical theory in North America or continental Europe,
Dworkin’s early criticism in
1977
that
UK
juris rudence is characterised by its
provoking and critical approach to Europe and European legal studies, it is thus
necessary to look beyond our own shores. The greatest tradition in critical
philosophy, since Sartre appropriated Heidegger’s engagement with Kant, is
undoubtedly the French, and there are few more revered (and reviled?) figures in
contemporary critical theory than Jacques Derrida. The publication of Derrida’s
influential essay,
The
Other
Heading,
first presented in
1990,
thus provides us
with a welcome opportunity not just to engage with the heart of one particularly
intensive critical theory, but to do so as it engages with the politics of Europe. In
the first part of this review, I want to explore Derrida’s essay, and then in the
second and third parts to explore the extent to which it demands very specific
questions of any putative ‘European legal studies.
’
insularity and analytical obsession still holds true.
4
In order to engage in a thought-
*Faculty of Law, University of Durham.
I
should like to thank members of the Faculty of Comparative Law
at Comenius University, Bratislava, for their comments on an earlier draft of this article, presented to them.
I
should also like to thank Clare McGlynn and Pat Twomey.
The most notable exceptions are Francis Snyder’s ‘New Directions in European Community Law’
in
Fitzpatrick and Hunt (eds),
Critical Legal Sfudies
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1987) pp 167-182, the
arguments of which were subsequently developed in his
New Directions
in
European
Comniry
Law
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990), Neil MacCormick’s ‘Beyond
the
Sovereign State’ (1993)
56: 1
MLR
1
-
18,
and, most recently, Joxerramon Bengoetxea’s
?Re Legal Reasoning ofthe European
Court
of
Justice
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
All
three will
be
considered subsequently. But even
the most casual glance at the major English language specialist European law
journals
immediately
reveals the conspicuous absence of genuine critical commentary.
Exceptions must include, most notably, the work of Peter Goodrich and Alan Hunt. But again, only a
brief perusal of
UK
published law journals reveals the comparative absence of critical material when
compared with any major North American journal or review. For Dworkin’s comments, see
Taking
Rights Seriously
(London: Duckworth, 1977) pp
1-3.
For the seizure of the Heidegger-Kant dialogue, see most recently Schalow,
?Re
Renewal
of
the
Heidegger-Kant Dialogue
(Albany: SUNY, 1992).
1
2
3
315
0
The Modern Law Review Limited
1994
(MLR
579,
March). Published by Blackwell Publishers,
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