National and EU Identity, Public Opinion

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National and EU Identity, Public Opinion
Democracy

• Markus Thiel, Ph.D.
• Dept. of Politics and International Relations
• Florida International University

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Introduction

• Before EU, Europe as birthplace of modern
  nationalism
• Europeans today have many commonalities
• mixed economy welfare states
• common historical determinants
• common attitudes toward life
• Critical junctures of the Maastricht Treaty
  provisions (1992/93) Euro, CFSP, citizenship
• A dichotomy between EU supporters and opponents
  visible ( e.g. with rejection of the
  constitution/Lisbon Treaty, post-Maastricht
  Blues and current identity crisis of the EU)

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Identity as a social concept

• Diverse and often generalizing, undifferentiated
  use of theoretical constructs such as collective
  ID, nation
• Matters on an individual and group level
• (Social) identity is essentially a categorization
  framework made up of sets of comparisons and
  contrasts used to emphasize distinctions among
  groups (us against them)

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Collective identities theorized

• 2 basic camps regarding the general logic of
  identity-formation essentialists modernists
• Essentialists/Primordialists (Connor, Smith)
  Ethnic nationalism as an expression of the
  eternal and essential constituents of collective
  identities
• sceptical about European Identity
• Modernists/Constructivists (Anderson, Gellner)
  emphasize fluidity of ID, social learning
  mobilization theorize civic nationalism as an
  elite-driven project for nation-building
• - optimistic about Eur Identity

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Theory Literature

• European ID consists of cultural and civic
  aspects of a pan-European common identification
  (Bruter)
• Cultural aspects/ID recognize(s) the common
  history and cultural commonalities, though the
  extent of this is disputed (McCormick) shared
  heritage argument
• Civic ID builds upon the Member States
  liberal-democratic governance (HR, democracy,
  welfare tolerance) and the EUs integration
  measures (internal homogenization
  differentiation)

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Relationship of national European identities
(Nested, cross-cutting blended model)
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Consequences for European ID?

• Blended model most appropriate one
• EU membership leads to an identity change which
  impacts upon the previous national identity
• Since EU membership identity then interacts with
  rather different national identity constructions,
  the overall effect will not be homogenous leading
  to a generalized EU identity but rather, we find
  (27) nationalized European identities
• (different meanings of what Europe means in
  different countries e.g. France, Germany, UK,
  Ireland etc.)

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Criticism

• Absence of popular support for the EU (only half
  of EU-27 support membership and identify with the
  EU)
• Democratic deficit (lack of democratic input by
  citizens)
• Knowledge participation deficits (EP elections)
• Euronationalism, Superstate Europe
• Devolution Stateness problems
• Constitutional problems
• Important to recognize the idea and reality of
  European identity, ideological component (Delanty)

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Public opinion (EB 70, Fall 2008)

• The three main indicators covering the general
  attitudes towards the EU the support for EU
  membership (53) and the image of the EU (45)
  have either remained stable or declined slightly
  since 2006.
• 2006 46 of citizens support further enlargement
  of the EU in future years and 42 oppose it
• For EU citizens, the three values which represent
  best what the EU is, are human rights (38),
  democracy (38) and peace (36).

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The future of transnationalism democracy in the
EU

• The upcoming EP elections serve as signifier for
  the degree of civic engagement with the EU its
  pro/contra-position reg. EU the EP evolving into
  a truly representative body?
• Enlargements weakens the dominant
  Anglo-Franco-German position but produces
  disunity among institutions fears among EU
  citizens broadening vs. deepening?
• The Lisbon Treaty, rejected by the Irish who thus
  block reform for the rest of Europe, aims at
  balancing (more) supranational integration and
  national interests strengthening of external
  face an end of national vs. European interests?
• (More) Democracy, Delivery, Diversity, Dreams
  needed?