Gil Thompson on the limits of politicised national identity

Everyday Functionalists and the Limits of Politicised National Identity: The Case of Officers Seconded to Frontex and EASO in Lesvos

Gil Thompson, PLATO PhD researcher
Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies

European studies argues that the European integration process has moved from permissive consensus to a restrictive dissensus, making further integration increasingly fraught. The postfunctionalist paradigm offers that this is a natural consequence of integration, which leads to politicisation, which in turn activates national identities. This investigation focuses on member state police and asylum officers seconded by Frontex and EASO to support the Greek government in Lesvos. Based on a series of 28 recorded interviews and deep ethnographic research with the deployed officers, this investigation asks whether they develop a certain ‘everyday functionalism’, which works as a countervailing identity.