scholarly journals Fuzzy Frontiers? Testing the Fluidity of National, Partisan and Brexit Identities in the Aftermath of the 2016 Referendum

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110500
Author(s):  
John Kenny ◽  
Anthony Heath ◽  
Lindsay Richards
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Eu Referendum ◽  
English Identity ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Porous Boundaries

British and English national identities have long been considered to have porous boundaries whereby English individuals consider the terms more or less interchangeable. However, there is no empirical evidence to demonstrate whether primary feelings of either Britishness or Englishness are highly fluid within-individuals or whether individuals are consistent in their perceptions of their British or English identity. This is especially relevant in the post-Brexit referendum context where national identity is highly correlated with Brexit attitudes. Using panel data, we demonstrate that there is a notable degree of fluidity between identifying as British or English. This is higher than the fluidity between other national identities in the UK as well as more fluid than moving between any partisan or EU referendum identities. Remainers are more fluid than Leavers in their Englishness, whereas they are similar in the fluidity of their Britishness.

National identity and money: Czech and Slovak Lands 1918–2008

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Veselkova ◽  
Julius Horvath
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Political Power ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
International Audience

An expanding literature on money and identity is built around the assumption that political elites deliberately use currency design to foster national identities. However, the empirical evidence in favor of this assumption has been fragmentary. Drawing on detailed primary sources we demonstrate nationalist intentions of political elites involved in currency design. We also examine how political elites use banknotes as official pronouncements on who is and who is not part of the nation and what the official attitude toward foreigners is. By tracing changes in the inclusive and exclusive messages directed at an intra-state or international audience we document that there is no connection between ingroup (national) love and outgroup (foreigners, minorities, opposition) hate. The amount of exclusive messages to outgroups culminated in conditions of perceived threat when political leaders tried to mobilize pre-existing identities to secure or maintain political power. In contrast, the officials deliberately tried to broaden ingroup boundaries in order to build international communities. Finally, we document that in the case of limited support for the new conception of identity, officials tried to depict the old and the new identity as complementary, embedding the new identity in existing discourses.

Introduction: English Identity and Institutions in a Changing United Kingdom

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-26
Author(s):  
Michael Kenny ◽  
Iain McLean ◽  
Akash Paun
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
National Conversation ◽  
National Sentiment ◽  
English Identity ◽  
The Uk

This chapter examines whether, why and with what consequences there has been a disentangling of England from Britain in terms of its governance and national identity. The assumption has been that to distinguish between England and Britain risks destabilising the Union. However, the English seem dissatisfied with how they are governed, as demonstrated by support for Brexit, and less content for their nationhood to be poured into the larger vessel of Britishness. In response, the major UK political parties appear more willing to appeal to English national sentiment. But England has yet to engage in a reflective national conversation about its changing identity and its relationship with the rest of the UK and wider world. The fragmentary character of national consciousness in England, and deep divisions in its political culture, make it impossible to draw simple conclusions. This chapter sketches the outlines of a prospective research agenda on these issues.

Liberal Nationalism and Its Critics

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Full Inclusion ◽  
Liberal Nationalism ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
National Attachment ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Psychological Experiments

The thesis of liberal nationalism is that national identities can serve as a source of unity in culturally diverse liberal societies, thereby lending support to democracy and social justice. The chapters in this book examine that thesis from both normative and empirical perspectives, in the latter case using survey data or psychological experiments from the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, and the UK. They explore how people understand what it means to belong to their nation, and show that different aspects of national attachment—national identity, national pride, and national chauvinism—have contrasting effects on support for redistribution and on attitudes towards immigrants. The psychological mechanisms that may explain why people’s identity matters for their willingness to extend support to others are examined in depth. Equally important is how the potential recipients of such support are perceived. ‘Ethnic’ and ‘civic’ conceptions of national identity are often contrasted, but the empirical basis for such a distinction is shown to be weak. In their place, a cultural conception of national identity is explored, and defended against the charge that it is ‘essentialist’ and therefore exclusive of minorities. Particular attention is given to the role that religion can legitimately play within such identities. Finally the book examines the challenges involved in integrating immigrants, dual nationals, and other minorities into the national community. It shows that although these groups mostly share the liberal values of the majority, their full inclusion depends on whether they are seen as committed and trustworthy members of the national ‘we’.

scholarly journals National Identities in Troubled Times: Germany and Southern European Countries after the Great Recession

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Antonia María Ruiz Jiménez ◽  
Nieves Aquino Llinares ◽  
Elena Ferri Fuentevilla
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Compensation Mechanism ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Southern European Countries

This article aims to elucidate the effects of the Great Recession and the retrenchment of welfare on national identity in several European countries. While different authors have observed that good economic performance, redistribution, and the growth of welfare strengthen countries as political communities of solidarity, there is much less empirical evidence regarding the consequences of an economic crisis for national identity. To investigate these consequences, we focus on a set of countries where the 2008 Great Recession resulted in different impacts, namely, Germany and four countries in Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece). We use secondary quantitative data from Eurobarometer surveys to test aggregated and individual hypotheses relating to both the size and direction of the Great Recession’s effects on national identity. Our results suggest that the roles and impacts of economic variables may be different depending on the relative economic performance of a country within its own context. It seems easier to confirm that good economic performance, in relative terms, might strengthen national identity than proving that poor economic performance will weaken national identity. Even if no definitive empirical evidence can be given at this point, our data suggest a rationalization or compensation mechanism such that citizens look for where to anchor their strong national identities after they have decided on them. If an economy is performing well, then it would become a good anchorage for holding a strong national identity; however, if an economy is not performing well, then economic factors will cease to be a fundamental element for national identity holders.

scholarly journals Did Austerity Cause Brexit?

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (11) ◽  
pp. 3849-3886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiemo Fetzer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Political Dissatisfaction ◽  
Eu Referendum ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Direct Measures ◽  
Welfare Reforms ◽  
Subsequent Rise ◽  
The Eu

This paper documents a significant association between the exposure of an individual or area to the UK government’s austerity-induced welfare reforms begun in 2010, and the following: the subsequent rise in support for the UK Independence Party, an important correlate of Leave support in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union membership; broader individual-level measures of political dissatisfaction; and direct measures of support for Leave. Leveraging data from all UK electoral contests since 2000, along with detailed, individual-level panel data, the findings suggest that the EU referendum could have resulted in a Remain victory had it not been for austerity. (JEL D72, F15, F60, H53, I38)

Does Nationhood Promote Egalitarian Justice?

2019 ◽  
pp. 78-95
Author(s):  
Nils Holtug
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Egalitarian Justice ◽  
Danish Study

The national identity argument suggests that sharing a national identity fosters social cohesion. This chapter considers a specific version of the argument, according to which shared national identities are required for, or at least facilitate, trust and solidarity and therefore egalitarian redistribution. The argument is assessed in terms of the theoretical arguments that can be provided for believing that national identities create trust and solidarity, more specifically, the ‘sympathy account’ and the ‘predictability account’ are considered. Furthermore, empirical studies that test the proposed causal relationship between national identity and social cohesion are scrutinized, focusing in particular on a recent Danish study. It is concluded that neither these theoretical considerations nor the available empirical evidence supports the national identity argument.

scholarly journals A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Reconstructed National Identities in Selected Scottish and British Political Speeches with Reference to the Scottish Referendum

لارك ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (36) ◽  
pp. 258-270
Author(s):  
ساره علي حسين
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
Political Speeches ◽  
The Uk

Abstract                     This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of the discursive construction of national identity in selected political discourses. The nationalist narratives affect the ways people view problems that are related to them as a group, i.e. related to their ethnicity, nation, and country. Because of the effective role of the national narratives in directing people's decisions, the study aims to investigate the ways in which national identities are maintained or reproduced in political discourse to reach political purposes. Thus, the researchers use a qualitative thematic analysis based on three levels to investigate the construction of the national identity in discourse. To achieve this aim, the study analyses two political speeches in which one of them is presented by the First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond and the second one is given by the Prime Minister of the UK David Cameron. Both speeches are presented a day after the Scottish independence referendum. The researchers employ Wodak, de Cillia, Reisigl and Liebhart's (2009) theory of the discursive construction of national identity to examine the strategies that are used by those opposing sides to maintain or reproduce a specific national identification. The study arrives at identifying certain strategies used to express the opposing views of both politicians to construct, maintain or destroy national identities.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Gina Gustavsson ◽  
David Miller
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Sharp Distinction ◽  
Current Rise

The current rise of nationalism in Europe and elsewhere is often said to pose a threat to liberal values. Liberal nationalists argue in reply that nationalism can take a liberal form, and in doing so provide support for both democracy and social justice. The chapter uses empirical evidence to show that people continue to identify strongly with their countries; such identities can exist alongside local, regional, and continental ones. Nor are those who feel close to their country only those who are less educated or politically conservative. The chapter explores whether national identities can be classed as either ethnic or civic, concluding that the prevalence of cultural factors shows that no such sharp distinction can be drawn. Finally, survey evidence is used to show that having a stronger national identity does not correlate with having more authoritarian (and therefore less liberal) views on matters such as civil rights and religious tolerance.

scholarly journals Does the UK ‘citizenship process’ lead immigrants to reject British identity? A panel data analysis

Ethnicities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146879682096396
Author(s):  
David Bartram
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Destination Country ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
British Identity ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Do So

In societies where solidarity and cohesion are experienced primarily via shared national identity, immigration raises questions regarding how non-nationals can gain social membership, so that they are not perceived as undermining solidarity and cohesion. A key aspect of immigrants’ experiences is thus whether they embrace the national identity of the destination country. Governments in many destination countries increasingly seek to ensure that they do, via policy initiatives that impose specific requirements for gaining legal citizenship: applicants for naturalization are commonly required to pass a test (ensuring sufficient knowledge of e.g. ‘life in the UK’) and attend a ceremony that includes a pledge of loyalty. This paper considers whether the British version of these requirements is effective in leading immigrants to embrace British national identity. It uses data drawn from the UK household panel survey (‘Understanding Society’) to facilitate a comparison between those immigrants who become citizens and those who do not. The main finding is that those who become citizens significantly increase their attachment to British identity. Whether they do so specifically because of the policy requirements (the test and ceremony) is debatable, but it seems clear that these requirements do not inhibit development of a sense of Britishness among the immigrants who meet them.

French and Spanish Queer Film

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Perriam ◽  
Darren Waldron
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Current State ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Screening Questionnaires ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Uk

This book advances the current state of film audience research and of our knowledge of sexuality in transnational contexts, by analysing how French LGBTQ films are seen in Spain and Spanish ones in France, as well as how these films are seen in the UK. It studies films from various genres and examines their reception across four languages (Spanish, French, Catalan, English) and engages with participants across a range of digital and physical audience locations. A focus on LGBTQ festivals and on issues relating to LGBTQ experience in both countries allows for the consideration of issues such as ageing, sense of community and isolation, affiliation and investment, and the representation of issues affecting trans people. The book examines films that chronicle the local, national and sub-national identities while also addressing foreign audiences. It draws on a large sample of individual responses through post-screening questionnaires and focus groups as well as on the work of professional film critics and on-line commentators.

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