European Collective Identity in Terms of Micro- Nationalism

European Collective Identity in Terms of Micro- Nationalism

YURDIGUL, Yusuf
YURDIGUL, Asli

The point the European Union, idealized with respect to being European or Europeanising, has reached today is a result of union ideas lasting for about 700 years in Europe. This ideal initiated by some countries coming together has entered in the process of development in terms of expanding intellectual background, giving it a global aspect and creating a collective social memory, and so it has turned into a European collective identity in terms of politics, economy and culture. However, the idealized European collective identity cannot be seen as long-lasting in today’s Europe where nationalism has become popular among the rising values. Although collective identity has been formed as a modern concept providing for the union of nation state structure, national identity and citizenship concept, it has become a source of problem in multinational states with the European Union process. The differences in the European Union countries have become remarkably clear. With the European Union process, member states including different national identities, have inevitably confronted some problems in which different and rival sense of belonging factors are created. While xenophobia arisen out of immigrations to Europe has empowered nationalist discourse in member states due to economic and religious causes, micro-nationalist movements have matured in local elements that have been strengthened thanks to the EU domestic policies. Moreover, the EU has almost got to represent a constitution in which nationality and citizenship concepts have been gradually separating each other with regards to member states. This separation which has been observed more intensively with the increasing numbers of membership to the Union has caused two types of nationalism to gain strength: the one which was arisen as an xenophobia in reaction to immigrations from East and South to the Western countries, and the micro-nationalist dynamism which was gained by local elements as a result of implementing the EU policies by member states. This study building a conceptual framework in the context of the European Union, nationalism and micro-nationalism aims to discuss the results of nationalism fact rising in Europe for idealized multi-cultural and supranational European collective identity, and whether or not the dynamics that exist in Europe but do not seem as European and that have become an identity by not being a local element in terms of the EU policies will be a threat for the EU process. Keywords: European Union, European Collective Identity, Nationalism, Micro-Nationalism.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2013-05-10

1685