European Identity in the Context of National Identity: Questions of Identity in Sixteen European Countries in the Wake of the Financial Crisis

Abstract
Nationalism seems to be back in Europe in the age of the Great Recession. In all EU countries, citizens accuse Europe of intruding in their way of life. European identity seems to be in retreat. This book provides an insight into the multiple ways through which citizens of sixteen countries connected their own national identity to European identity in 2007 and 2009 on the verge of the economic crisis.

The authors of this book, who come from different European countries, explore the regional identifications, the level of identification with the nation and with Europe, the meanings that are attached to the identities, and the mutual trust between Europeans. The book gives information on these aspects of identity for ordinary citizens and elites. It unravels the individual and contextual factors which influence the multiple dimensions of their national and European identity, and compares European identity with ideological identities. It highlights the consequences of different dimensions of identity on support for the European Union, and it compares how Western and Eastern conceive national and European identity.

The book forcefully shows that after many decades of European integration, citizens of EU member countries have not developed a strong and resilient European identity, though their national identities have undergone processes of Europeanization whose outcomes look different according to the dimensions one considers.

Table of Contents

1 An Exploration of Europeans’ Identities (Paolo Segatti and Bettina Westle)
2 National Elites’ Conceptions of National and of European Identity ( Borbála Göncz and György Lengyel)
3 Subnational and National Territorial Identification (Christian Schnaudt, Stefanie Walter, and Sebastian Adrian Popa)
4 National and European Identification—Their Relationship and its Determinants (Bettina Westle and Roman Graf Buchheim)
5 Meanings of National and European Identities (Simona Guglielmi and Cristiano Vezzoni)
6 Unpacking the Components of National Identity and Their Effects on Identification with Europe (Paolo Segatti and Simona Guglielmi)
7 The Relationship between European Identity and National Identity, Party Identification, and Ideological Orientation (Radoslaw Markowski and Michal Kotnarowski)
8 A Sword or a Shield? Globalization, European Integration, and Public Opinion (Pierangelo Isernia and Maurizio Cotta)
9 Trust towards Other People (Bettina Westle and Tuuli-Marja Kleiner)
10 The Consequences of European Identity (Fabio Serricchio and Paolo Bellucci)
11 Conclusions (Bettina Westle and Paolo Segatti)