Habermas's European Vision Failed Due to Eurocentric Blindness to EU's Colonial Nature
Source: Hans Kundnani. "Jürgen Habermas’s European Illusion." March 19, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
The famous German philosopher Habermas believed the European Union could become a model for world peace and cooperation. But the author argues Habermas was wrong because he only saw the world through European eyes and ignored how the EU actually excludes and oppresses people from other regions, just like old-fashioned nationalism but on a bigger scale.
Conclusion
Jürgen Habermas's vision of the European Union as a progressive, postnational, cosmopolitan project was fundamentally flawed because his Eurocentric worldview prevented him from recognizing the EU's inherent limitations and colonial characteristics.
Premises
- Habermas envisioned the EU as transcending the 'territorial principle' and becoming a step toward world society, but the EU has instead become 'Fortress Europe' with hardened external borders
- The EU's budget for border enforcement (Frontex) increased from €142 million in 2015 to €1.1 billion in 2025, demonstrating militarization rather than openness
- Rather than 'de-bordering,' the EU has 're-bordered' along civilizational lines, replicating exclusionary nationalism at a regional level
- Habermas's thinking was shaped by German historical experience and an idealized view of the liberal West, making him blind to colonial histories and non-Western perspectives
- The Frankfurt School tradition, including Habermas, largely ignored colonialism and racism despite being well-positioned to address these issues
- Habermas continued to support EU integration even as the actual EU diverged from his cosmopolitan ideals, revealing the parochialism of his supposedly universal vision
Assumptions
- The EU's current trajectory toward border militarization represents its true nature rather than a temporary deviation
- A thinker's cultural and historical background fundamentally limits their ability to understand global dynamics
- Cosmopolitan ideals require genuine engagement with colonial history and non-Western perspectives to be valid
- The Frankfurt School's theoretical framework was inherently limited by its Eurocentric foundations