IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/erp/eiopxx/p0116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

European and National Identities in EU's Old and New Member States: Ethnic, Civic, Instrumental and Symbolic Components

Author

Listed:
  • Ruiz Jiménez, Antonia M.; Górniak, Jaroslaw Jósef
  • Kosic, Ankica
  • Kiss, Paszkal
  • Kandulla, Maren

Abstract

In this paper we empirically test three of the most significant theories about the emergence of a European identity. The three approaches considered here are, respectively: first, a "cultural" theory, which understands identities as being based on ethno-cultural factors generated through a long-term (historical) process; second, an "instrumental" theory, which conceives of identities as being based on self-interested calculation (whether economic or political); and a third "civic" theory, which understands identities as being based on agreement over rules for peaceful political co-existence. Our empirical test of these theories exploits Eurobarometer data. In recent years, many researchers have become increasingly dissatisfied with the way these surveys poll attitudes towards the EU. We have contributed to this debate by designing special new questions to measure national and European identities which were included in Eurobarometer 57.2 and are used here for this analysis. Our results provide only partial support for the theories mentioned above. We find that national and European identities are compatible. This is, in part, because while national identities are largely "cultural", European identities are primarily "instrumental". However, we also find that there is a sufficient European common "cultural" ground for a European identity to emerge. We have also confirmed that, because national and European identities are different, the development of a European identity does not necessarily imply the transfer of loyalties from the national to the supranational level. In all the countries analysed here, attachment to the nation remains strong, and certainly greater than attachment to Europe. We also show that it is harder for a European identity to develop in countries with a strong sense of national pride.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruiz Jiménez, Antonia M.; Górniak, Jaroslaw Jósef & Kosic, Ankica & Kiss, Paszkal & Kandulla, Maren, 2004. "European and National Identities in EU's Old and New Member States: Ethnic, Civic, Instrumental and Symbolic Components," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 8, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:erp:eiopxx:p0116
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2004-011a.htm
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2004-011.htm
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/pdf/2004-011.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, 2000. "The Political Basis of Support for European Integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 1(2), pages 147-171, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Teney, Céline & Lacewell, Onawa Promise & De Wilde, Pieter, 2014. "Winners and losers of globalization in Europe: attitudes and ideologies," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(4), pages 575-595.
    2. Brie, Mircea & Polgar, Istvan & Chirodea, Florentina, 2012. "European union. identity, diversity and integration," MPRA Paper 44099, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2012.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brie, Mircea & Polgar, Istvan & Chirodea, Florentina, 2012. "European union. identity, diversity and integration," MPRA Paper 44099, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2012.
    2. Beramendi, Pablo, 2007. "Inequality and the Territorial Fragmentation of Solidarity," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 783-820, October.
    3. Hartlapp, Miriam & Falkner, Gerda, 2008. "Problems of operationalization and data in EU compliance research," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2008-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Perkins, Richard & Neumayer, Eric, 2007. "Do membership benefits buy regulatory compliance?: an empirical analysis of EU directives 1978-1999," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3057, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:erp:eiopxx:p0116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Assistant (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecsaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.