What Is Europe? | Interview: Roderick Beaton

In a landmark episode of *The Remnant*, Jonah Goldberg interviews Professor Roderick Beaton, a knighted scholar and author of *Europe: A New History*, about the evolving, contested, and deeply historical idea of Europe. Beaton argues that Europe as a geopolitical concept was born not from geography, but from the narrative of Herodotus after the Greek victories over Persia in 490 and 480 BCE—when the idea of Europe as a distinct continent, defended by its gods and people, was weaponized. This narrative, he contends, has persisted for 2,500 years, even as Europe’s borders, identity, and meaning have shifted. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Beaton says, has re-energized the question: What does it mean to be European today? He rejects racial or religious definitions, instead defining Europeans as those who embrace Enlightenment ideals—democracy, rule of law, and human rights—while also acknowledging the continent’s shared geography and history. He warns that Europe’s economic stagnation and political fragmentation threaten its future, but sees hope in the possibility that shared adversity—like the war in Ukraine—could forge a deeper European identity. The episode also explores the irony that while the American right now often invokes Europe as a cultural ideal, it simultaneously resists the idea of America as an idea, revealing a deep tension in modern identity politics.