Greece & a PhD, Social Capital & Soft Power

Six years ago as I began a PhD looking at Europe, the economic crisis was just biting. As I started my research, I joked that I didn't know what Europe would look like when I completed the work. Progress on the thesis and the European economic agenda has been slow but, coming full circle, both issues are reaching a critical point this week.

My thesis looks at why the European Union funded an initiative in Higher Education. I suggest that the EU is drawing on 2 theories with this initiative: Soft Power and Social Capital. Soft Power is defined as the ability to influence others through attraction rather than the hard power of military or economic sanctions. Social Capital theory looks at the development of networks of reciprocity: that by building relationships, people are more likely to support each other. 

Now the EU is well placed to facilitate both Soft Power and Social Capital, and this can be seen in the current Grexit discussions. Greece was attracted to join the EU because of its economic, cultural and socio-political values; the Greek government hopes to emulate these. In turn, the EU wanted to influence Greek behaviour to guarantee both parties long term success, particularly economic success. In other words, Soft Power was at work. What can be seen as  emerging during this crisis is that attraction has waned. The values that attracted Greece to the EU don't quite match, say, Germany's economic prudence. The cultural behaviours of Mediterranean and Scandinavian countries aren't always complimentary, for example. So, in a crisis, cracks start to appear. 

And this is where Social Capital should have helped. The members of the EU had networked and learnt of the value of being a union over many years. The peace and stability the EU has played a part in creating can be explained by the networks of reciprocity and of trust which are seen as defining elements of Social Capital. Instead, the differences in values and views of the EU, as well as different democratic and negotiating styles, has lead to the Social Capital decreasing. It's decreased to such an extent that these recent negotiations are fractious and lack a common vision for the direction of the EU and its constituent states. 

Based on my research, none of this is a surprise. My PhD research showed in a specific initiative funded by the EU that students struggled to identify common European values and that Social Capital can disappear quickly if it is not constantly invested in. My research also found that, in this small group of students, the Soft Power, the attraction, of the EU was founded largely on economic principles rather than cultural ones. 

Now I'm not saying that my research explains the Greek crisis or can be generalised to work at EU level. However, my work does lead me to wonder that if the EU is based on an economic vision then in times of crises, such as the current one in Greece, there is a lack of common bonds or Social Capital to rescue the situation. 

So just as my research concludes, so does the EU situation worsen. But these questions and debates about the role of the EU will continue long beyond the end of my studies as, to my mind, the issues at stake are how different nations and cultures work together and influence each other; issues which the ministers in Brussels cannot solve in a single weekend.