Europeanisation through the European Capital of Culture Programme - A Comparative Study of Umeå2014 and Pilsen2015

Abstract: This thesis aims to examine Europeanisation through the European Union’s cultural initiative European Capital of Culture (ECoC). The thesis understands Europeanisation as an ideology to promote the unification of the diversity of European cultures as well as foster the feeling of belonging to a united European cultural space. The ECoC programme is therefore interpreted as a political instrument to develop Europeanisation further. The intentions of former ECoC cities to promote Europeanisation will be examined by analysing the applications to host the ECoC of the cities in question. The objective of this study is to approach the issue of Europeanisation through a comparative study of Umeå and Pilsen, which were designated to host the ECoC event in 2014 and 2015. This thesis investigates how Europeanisation has been carried out and how the implementation of Europeanisation varies depending on the level of Europeanness of the cities prior to the application process. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on social – constructivism as an approach to Europeanisation, which implies that the cities in question experienced transformations during the application process to host the ECoC, in order to become more ‘European’. The conclusion drawn in this thesis consists of the confirmation concerning variations of Europeanisation depending on the level of Europenness prior to the application process. The cities in questions underwent alterations and due to that, Europeanisation occurred. Moreover, the conclusion touches upon the issue of unification of European cultures and the European collective identity.