Ideological nationalism is rising in most EU countries and threatens the unity of the Union. Primarily populist parties use it as a political instrument in their fight for power, presenting the European Union as a danger to national identity. According to Eurosceptical politicians, the EU imposes European identity instead of a national identity. This book argues that not only can those identities coexist, but they can also exacerbate each other. Instead of rejecting nationalism in general, it suggests that the EU should oppose only its ideological forms that lead to xenophobia and hostility toward other nations. At the same time, the books shows that EU policy should protect and support member states' efforts to maintain and preserve their uniqueness and national cultural identity, which is threatened not by European integration, but by inevitable globalization.
Ideological nationalism is rising in most EU countries and threatens the unity of the Union. Primarily populist parties use it as a political instrument in their fight for power, presenting the European Union as a danger to national identity. According to Eurosceptical politicians, the EU imposes European identity instead of a national identity. This book argues that not only can those identities coexist, but they can also exacerbate each other. Instead of rejecting nationalism in general, it suggests that the EU should oppose only its ideological forms that lead to xenophobia and hostility toward other nations. At the same time, the books shows that EU policy should protect and support member states’ efforts to maintain and preserve their uniqueness and national cultural identity, which is threatened not by European integration, but by inevitable globalization.
This book explores how the multiplicity of nationalist parties across the European Union have embraced or refused the process of European integration and made it a platform for transnational coordination in the European arena. The author analyzes how opposing pro-European minority nationalist parties and Eurosceptic populist nationalist parties have diversely politicized European integration over the past three decades and engage in different patterns of Europeanization. Tracing their divergent trajectories of transnational coordination, the book examines the common challenges these opposing nationalist party families face and their systematic fragmentation in the European arena. The book offers a novel approach to understanding the conditions for the emergence of truly European nationalist party families, based on the interaction of ideological, strategic and institutional variables that underpin the Europeanization of heterogeneous nationalisms. Nationalisms in the European Arena will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including sociology and political science. It contributes to the increasing literature on identity politics in the European Union and reveals the mechanisms behind why the European arena is adverse to the political translation and organization of domestic nationalisms as distinctive European actors.
An examination of the ceaseless controversies surrounding ideas of nation and nationalism, showing that they are very far from dead in twenty-first century Europe. Beginning by defining these terms and setting out theories and concepts clearly and concisely, this book analyses the impact of nationalism since the Second World War, covering themes including: * the relationship of nationalism to the Cold War * the re-emergence of demands by stateless nations * European integration and globalisation * immigration since the 1970s * the effects of nationalism on the former Soviet Union and Eastern block.
The unprecedented growth of the modern state has been deeply connected with nationalism, understood as the idea that a specific territory should be composed of people sharing a distinct history, language or culture: In the period which can roughly be demarcated as ranging from the Peace of Westphalia until the two world wars, this idea provided the basis for seemingly unlimited growth of the public sector and the regulation of aspects hitherto seen as outside the ambit of the state - at the expense of individual liberties and the regional and municipal administration. Beginning with the formation of the European Union, however, there has been a substantial attempt at transforming the meaning and impact of nationalism. Instead of being an essentially modern, progressive concept, it is often portrayed as backward, an obstacle in the path towards further integration, the fulfillment of peace, and improved living standards. In other words, the tide has turned, and the nation-state has itself become the smaller unit it used to fight against. At the same time, however, the arguments and the general attitude in favour of further integration in the EU clearly resemble those that were asserted during the rise of the nation-state. Thus, it seems that history is substantially repeating itself: the transmission of powers has only been taken to the next level with the EU simply replacing the old nation-state.
This volume brings together research contributions on the interface between media, identities and the public sphere in contemporary Europe. It contains information spanning theoretical insights and the elaboration of original case studies. Particularly welcome is the effort to bring together discussion on media industries and cultural identification and the experiences of East and West."-Paul Statham, Professor of Sociology, University of Bristol Mikl=s Snk÷sd is Associate Professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong. Karol Jakubowicz is Senior Adviser to the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council of Poland.
This edited collection considers how transformations in contemporary societies have raised questions surrounding our sense of community and belonging, alongside our management of increased diversity. Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada includes contributions that consider the rise in regional nationalism and a greater willingness to recognise that many states are multinational. It critically explores the effects of altered patterns of immigration and emigration, including whether they give rise to (or re-invigorate) transnational or border-crossing forms of nationalism. The book also identifies the patterns of national transformation, especially in Europe, which we see coupled with significant nationalist reactions by populists as well as extreme right-wing movements and parties. This multidisciplinary collection of works will be a useful resource forresearchers and students of political sociology in Europe and Canada, particularly within the contexts of immigration, multiculturalism and globalization.
Europe has changed significantly and is now facing even more dramatic transformations with the enlargement of the European Union, the introduction of the euro and its increased role as a global actor in world affairs. This clear and accessible textbook provides an introduction to the key issues now shaping the new Europe and its citizens. The book features: * a history of the idea of 'Europe' and the development of the European nation state * analysis of European identity and the challenges posed by citizenship, migration, human rights, regionalism and nationalism * examination of the enlargement process and the impact of globalisation * key learning points, text boxes and guides for further reading to help students
In the age of grand recession, nationalism seems to have returned to Europe. In every EU country, many citizens are unhappy with the perceived intrusion of 'Europe' in their way-of-life. Any idea of a genuine pan-European identity seems to be in retreat. This book provides an unprecedented insight into the multiple ways through which citizens of 16 countries connect their own national identity to European identity. The book's theoretical claim is that European identity, as well as national identity, should be empirically assessed taking into account its multi-dimensionality. The volume's contributors suggest that European identity was always unlikely to be a source of political integration and political legitimacy in the way national identities have been in the past and are today. Europeans' primary identity is national rather than supranational. Mutual trust between European peoples exists, but is somewhat fragile. Yet, European identity is intertwined with national identities in manifold ways. The 'imagined communities' at the national and European level show strong similarities - criteria for being a European are strongly associated with the criteria used to define who national belonging. These complex links also manifest themselves in citizen's feelings of interdependence between the nations in the European Union - which, the volume suggests, support the EU in the face of severe crises. The IntUne series is edited by Maurizio Cotta (University of Siena) and Pierangelo Isernia (University of Siena). The INTUNE Project - Integrated and United: A Quest for Citizenship in an Ever Closer Europe - is one of the most recent and ambitious research attempts to empirically study how citizenship is changing in Europe. The book series is organized around the two main axes of the project, to report how the issues of identity, representation and standards of good governance are constructed and reconstructed at the elite and citizen levels, and how mass-elite interactions affect the ability of elites to shape identity, representation and the scope of governance. A first set of four books examines how identity, scope of governance and representation have been changing over time respectively at elites, media and public level. The next two books present cross-level analysis of European and national identity on the one hand and problems of national and European representation and scope of governance on the other, in doing so comparing data at both the mass and elite level. A concluding volume summarizes the main results, framing them in a wider theoretical context.
Minority nationalism and European integration have co-existed for most of the post-war years, but how exactly have these two different phenomena interacted? This work seeks to answer this question by examining the behaviour of minority nationalist parties to European integration, through exploring the cases of Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National party, the Volksunie and a range of Breton political organizations such as the Parti Autonomiste Breton and Parti pour l'Organisation d'une Bretagne Libre. The author also focuses upon the increasing levels of transnational co-operation between minority nationalist parties, itself a response to European integration. He also offers a comparison of party attitudes and behaviours to European union.
