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 National Deadlock. Hot Nationalism, Dual Identities and Catalan Independence (2008–2019)

Genealogy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Alejandro Quiroga ◽  
Fernando Molina
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
National Identities ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Global Recession ◽  
Independence Movement ◽  
Dual Identities ◽  
Political Divide

The article explores the transformations of Spanish and Catalan national identities and the growth of the pro-independence movement in Catalonia following the 2008 global recession. It argues that the Great Recession provided a new historical context of hot nationalism in which Catalanist narratives of loss and resistance began to ring true to large sectors of Catalan society, whereas the Spanish constitutionalist narratives seemed increasingly outdated. The article also shows the limits of the process of mass nationalization by both the Catalan and the Spanish governments and the eventual ‘crystallization’ of an identity and political divide between pro and anti-independence supporters which split Catalan society down the middle and led to a sort of national identity deadlock.

The Great Recession as a ‘stress test’ of migrant incorporation in Europe. Are Southern European countries really lame ducks?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ponzo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
European Model ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Migrant Integration ◽  
Southern European Countries

Abstract Southern European countries are generally portrayed as lame ducks when it comes to migrant integration. In this article, I will analyse some of the reasons that have led to this outcome including potential biases in migration studies. I argue that Southern European countries in fact hold their own specific ways of incorporating migrants which may be equally or even more positive than those of older immigration countries. At the same time, I maintain that they appear rather heterogeneous in this regard, questioning the idea of a single Southern European model. I will test these hypotheses by comparing Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece with some Western European older immigration countries and by observing the trends of migrant incorporation during the Great Recession which started in 2008. The economic crisis is here regarded as both a factor of change and a ‘stress test’ of the actual robustness of migrant incorporation in the target countries. The empirical data are framed in a typology of migrant incorporation modes conceived of as a heuristic tool to conceptualise the processes occurring during deep economic downturns.

Stuck in the parental nest?

2018 ◽  
pp. 334-357
Author(s):  
Fernanda Mazzotta ◽  
Lavinia Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Leaving Home ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Returning Home ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Southern European Countries

This chapter provides an extensive analysis of leaving and returning home by young people in 14 European countries. It analyzes the effect of the Great Recession, considering a period from 2005 to 2013 and controlling for two key determinants of living arrangements: employment and partnership. The main result is that the Great Recession has reduced the probability of leaving home and increased the probability of returning home, with differences across country groups. In particular, the probability of leaving home in Southern and Eastern European countries slightly declines during the period of analysis, whereas a sharp decrease is recorded in Continental countries at the beginning of the Great Recession. Southern European countries show an increase in home-returning throughout the entire period. Finally, both leaving and returning home seem more closely linked to partnership than to employment.

The Role of Policy in the Great Recession and the Weak Recovery

2014 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Slow Recovery ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Past ◽  
Severe Recession

This paper reports on recent research showing that the severe recession of 2007-2009 and the weak recovery have been due to poor economic policies and the failure to implement good policies during the past decade. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, and regulatory policy became more discretionary, more interventionist, and less predictable in comparison with the previous two decades of better economic performance. At best these policies led to growth spurts, but were followed by retrenchments, averaging to poor performance. The paper also considers alternative views-that the equilibrium interest rate declined during the decade and that the seriousness of financial crisis caused the slow recovery.

Returning to the parental home after the Great Recession: a matter of partnership dissolution or unemployment?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Mazzotta ◽  
Lavinia Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Returning Home ◽  
Two Peaks

Abstract This article provides an analysis of the return of young people to the parental home in 23 European countries. It analyses the effect of the Great Recession, considering the period between 2006 and 2014 and controlling for two key determinants of living arrangements: employment and partnership. The main finding is that the Great Recession has increased the probability of returning home: two peaks are observed in 2009 and 2011, with a percentage of returnees almost double that at the beginning of the period under consideration. Returning home seems more closely linked to partnership than to employment.

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.

scholarly journals The Transnationalism of Swedish and Russian National Theatres in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: How Foreign Performative Art Sharpened the Aesthetics of National Identity

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Maria Berlova
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
National Identity ◽  
National Identities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
English Drama ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French And English ◽  
Similarities And Differences

In this article, I consider the formation of national theatres in Sweden and Russia under the guidance of King Gustav III and Empress Catherine II. Both Swedish and Russian theatres in the second half of the eighteenth century consolidated their nationalism by appealing to various national cultures and absorbing them. One of the achievements of the Enlightenment was the rise in popularity of theatre and its transnationalism. Several European countries, like Russia, Sweden, Po- land, Hungary and others, decided to follow France and Italy’s example with their older traditions, and participate in the revival of the theatrical arts, while aiming at the same time to preserve their national identities. The general tendency in all European countries of “second theatre culture” was toward transnationalism, i.e. the acceptance of the inter-penetration between the various European cultures with the unavoidable impact of French and Italian theatres. The historical plays of the two royal dramatists – Gustav III and Catherine II – were based on nation- al history and formulated following models of mainly French and English drama. The monarchs resorted to the help of French, Italian and German composers, stage designers, architects, choreographers and actors to produce their plays. However, such cooperation only emphasized Swedish as well as Russian national- ism. Despite many similarities, Gustav III and Catherine II differed somewhat in how each positioned their own brand of nationalism. By delving deeper into the details of the formation of the national theatres by these monarchs, I will explore similarities and differences between their two theatres.

Political Culture in Spain in the Twenty-First Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 313-330
Author(s):  
Mariano Torcal ◽  
Pablo Christmann
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
First Century ◽  
Multivariate Test ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Performance ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Southern European Countries

This chapter discusses the reason for the outstanding decline political trust and satisfaction with democracy (SWD) in Spain since 2008. It analyses the evolution of political attitudes between 1985 and 2018, and contrasts these with political and economic performances in Spain. It then situates the recent developments within the rest of Europe, showing that the decline in political trust and SWD has been especially pronounced in Spain, even when contrasted with other Southern European countries or Eastern Europe. Finally, we analyse an individual-level panel dataset (CIUPANEL) to put existing explanations of the recent decline to a multivariate test. We present empirical evidence which confirms that despite the initial importance of the Great Recession, evaluations of the system’s political responsiveness and political corruption are equally relevant when accounting for changes in political trust and SWD in Spain over time. We find indications that poor political performance is the main reason why political trust has remained so low, despite the economic recovery in the country.

scholarly journals The Well-Being Gap during the Great Recession: The Role of Growth and Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Marco Ciziceno ◽  
Pietro Pizzuto
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Great Recession

The purpose of this paper is to examine the well-being dynamics across European countries during the Great Recession and to investigate the potential role of the quality of formal institutions in mitigating the negative effect of the economic downturn. This study uses the club convergence methodology by Phillips and Sul (2007; 2009) to group EU-28 countries that present similar features in terms of well-being during the period 2005-2017. The study also applies probit models to investigate the potential role of several social and institutional characteristics that are supposed to affect subjective well-being levels. The results show the existence of a “well-being gap” among European countries. The economic downturn started in 2008 has impacted the perceived well-being more in low-income and low-growth countries (less developed transition and Southern countries), than in high-income and more developed transition countries. The study also shows that countries that present well-functioning institutional systems and, more in general, good institutional performances show higher life satisfaction levels and tend to be more resilient to the negative effects generated by the economic shock.

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