Europa integreren via het recht: tussen ideologie en utopie

This dissertation is an exercise in critical legal theory, analysing the role of law in the EU through the concepts of ideology and utopia. The introductory chapter provides an overview and critical discussion of the two concepts, with an emphasis on Paul Ricoeur's novel account which forms the theoretical background of the dissertation. This is followed by four articles which all deal with different aspects of EU law. Article 1, published in Law and Philosophy, investigates the role of ideology in the legal reasoning of the CJEU, specifically in its use of proportionality. Article 2, published in European Law Open, addresses the question of Posted Workers and the relationship between economic freedoms and social rights in EU law. Article 3, published in Revus, looks at the changing role of EU law in the UK after the Brexit referendum, while Article 4, published in the Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy analyses the concept of EU citizenship. The conclusion explores the intertextual connections between the four articles, as well as their relationship to the theoretical background set out in the introduction.