1st Edition

Political Transformation and National Identity Change Comparative Perspectives

    344 Pages
    by Routledge

    342 Pages
    by Routledge

    The major socio-political changes of the last decades have led to changing ways of being national, changes in the content of national identity if not in the national categories themselves.

    This comparative social scientific volume takes examples of transitions to democracy (East Europe, Spain) to peace (South Africa, Israel, Northern Ireland) and to territorial decentralization (the United Kingdom, France, Spain), showing in each case how socio-political change and identity change have interlocked. It defines a typology of national identity shift, tracing the changing state forms which provoke national identity shift, and analyzing the process of identity change, its motivations and legitimations. Collecting together a wide range of examples, from South Africa to the Czech Republic from the Basque Country to the Mexican and Irish borders; the book brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, from world figures in the study of globalization and social identity to young researchers, to provide a much needed theoretical clarification and empirical evidence of types of national identity shift.

    Introduction.  Concepts and Theories.  Fluid or Frozen?  Choice and Change in Ethno-National Identification in Contemporary Northern Ireland.  The Social Map: Cohesion, Conflict and National Identity.  The Increasing Monopolization of Identity by the State: The Case of the UK and the USWhen Politics and Social Theory Converge: Group Identification and Group Rights in Northern Ireland.  The Role of the State.  After 1989, Who are the Czechs?  Subjective National Identities in Catalonia.  'Dollar Diplomacy': Globalization, Identity Change and Peace in IsraelEconomic Integration and National Identity in MexicoMajority-Minority Conflicts and their Resolution: Protestant Minorities in France and in IrelandProcesses and Experiences of National Identity Change.  Basque Militant Youths in France: New Experiences of Ethnonational Identity in the European ContextRace, Religion and Identity in South Africa: A Case Study of a Charismatic CongregationBeing English in North Wales: Immigration and the Immigrant ExperienceReligion, Ethnicity and Group Identity: Irish Adolescent ViewsGenerations on the Border: Changes in Ethno-National Identity in the Irish Border Area.

    Biography

    Jennifer Todd is at the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin

    Lorenzo Cañás Bottos is at the Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University

    Nathalie Rougier is at the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin