The European Identity Being Constructed On Citizenship Politics

In order to understand the meaning of the idea of a 'common European identity' it is necessary to examine a notion of nationalism and related to it concept of national identity, or even more specific, a concept of group identity or collective identity because nationalism is perceived as such by main theoretical perspectives examining its origins. It is argued that 'group identities are based on commonly held meanings and values and they require face-to-face interaction with other members of the group in order to come into existence and persist'. [] Anthony D. Smith suggests, that such collective identity cannot exist if several requirements are not met: 'a sense of shared continuity on the part of successive generations of a given unit of population, [...] shared memories of earlier periods, events and personages in the history of the unit, [and] the collective belief in a common destiny of that unit and its culture'. [] As noted above, 'national identity is a peculiar kind of identity that implies that a group of people decide on some bases of pre-existing solidarities to express its collective identity in the context of creating a state to enforce rules to preserve that identity'. [] This implies that common European identity is also some kind of group identity only with a wider understanding.

Collective identities are socially constructed. Which mean that, the core element responsible for the intentional or unintentional formation of a collective identity, whether national or European, are 'patterns of social interactions between pre-existing groups'. [] 'Collective identity is also by definition about the construction of an 'other.' Our idea of who we are is usually framed as a response to some 'other' group' (Barth 1969). [] It is important to identify, between which European national groups interactions are the most likely to occur and what might be the bases for their interactions. Such regular interactions would develop bonds between people from different social groups which suggest that they have some similarities. These developments may finally result in an emergence of a European collective identity.

Many scholars argue that it is possible for people to have multiple collective identities, even those that may seem in conflictual relations with each other, such as: local, regional, or national identities. [] This means, that it is possible to feel at the same time a national and European attachment. The data drawn from Eurobarometer surveys on citizenship feeling among EU citizens, and presented further in the text, proves that argument.

What is citizenship

Citizenship is

Article name: The European Identity Being Constructed On Citizenship Politics essay, research paper, dissertation