‘No Country for Old Women’? Linking Care and Reproductive Policy to the Politics of Nationalism and Europe

Abstract

Demographic change and the pressure it puts on welfare states will be one of the most serious challenges to face policy-makers in years to come. This thesis examines the issue of demographic change in the context of the European Union and its relationship with diverse national populations. The specific cases studied are Italy and the Netherlands, the former with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and the latter with a much higher one. Virtually every European public figure has strong opinions on the below replacement fertility rates of many European countries, which the Pope has stated is akin to a 'demographic winter' in Europe. In political institutions, however, no one is sure what can be done about it or who is to blame, and whether proposed policy measures to address the demographic decline are financially possible. Answers to these questions nonetheless are telling with respect to the construction of European identity and the European political economic order. This thesis uses text analysis and critical frame analysis to investigate the evolution of European identity as reflected in demographic policy. It analyses the European Union demographic policies on the so-called demographic crisis, and then it contrasts case studies of the Netherlands and Italy. Through the comparative analysis of cases the thesis shows how different identity narratives lead to different ways of framing the problem, and thus very different proposed solutions. The case study analysis links the politics of reproduction to the politics of the nation, highlighting the critical role population policies play in policing the borders of a national identity. The thesis then considers what this means for the European integration project, arguing that national contexts with a strong reliance on blood ties as the basis for citizenship will be more reluctant to adopt a common political identity based on notions of 'shared destiny or future in Europe'.