The Psychology of Overlapping Identities: Ethnic, Citizen, Nation and Beyond

Abstract

The recent changes sweeping across the European landscape have focused attention on the nature of political identities – ethnic, citizen, national and European – the relationships among them, and their effects on European politics. In the east, the development of stronger national identities seems inevitable given the focus on state-building. But across Europe, national identities are being challenged from below by the growing potency of regional and ethnic identities, and from above by the emerging reality of European identity. It is unclear, then, whether European integration will create a meaningful European identity or simply encourage cross-national regional groups and ethnic groups within European states to develop their own identities and seek greater autonomy. This is particularly problematic for Eastern Europe where the revitalisation of national identities may inhibit the emergence of the European identity. Thus our key analytic question is: how can these different kinds of political identities fit together? Can they be substituted for one another? Are they inevitably in conflict with one another or can they coexist comfortably together? And what are the implications of this for East European politics?