7.2: National Identity

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Define national identity.
• Explain how nationalism fuels irredentist and separatist movements.
• Describe how citizenship is different from national identity and political identity.

Introduction

Political identity is not the same as "national identity," but the concepts are interrelated. While political identity is how we view ourselves in a political sense, including our political interests, affiliations, and priorities, national identity is how a person, or group of persons, thinks of themselves as belonging to and representing the values and traits of a nation. This can range from a relatively narrow ethnic identity to a broader civic identity that encompasses many ethnic and religious groups. In Canada, for example, there is the concept of a "cultural mosaic" of many different types of people, including immigrants, who make up the nation. This is a broad and inclusive definition of national identity. On the other end of the spectrum, some South Asian nations, such as India, are viewed as practicing a narrow and exclusionary form of national identity (Chakraborty, 2014).

As a reminder from Chapter 3, a nation is broadly defined as a population of people joined by common culture, history, language, and/or ancestry within a designated region or territory. A nation-state is a state where all or most of the people in that state belong to a single nation. In Hungary, Poland, and the United States, for example, people tend not to separate between their nation and state. A multinational state, alternatively, is a state that contains multiple nations, such as India and Russia. 

National identity, just like other aspects of identity, creates a feeling of belonging. Symbols--such as a national flag, bird, or anthem--are commonly used to reflect the values and priorities of a nation’s identity, and their easy recognition helps to inspire and bind people together. In the United States, the Pledge of Allegiance was popularized after the Civil War (and formally adopted by Congress in 1942) as a means to unite the state as one nation, yet a number of southern states continue to use imagery reminiscent of the Confederate Battle Flag (suggesting a distinct identity). In Germany, after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933, the flag colors changed from black, red, and yellow to black, white, and red, and they subsequently reverted back after World War II. These symbols provide a visible cue to reinforce a person's sense of attachment to a nation. As Haas (1986) describes, national identity implies a "principle of identity based on impersonal ties, remote ties, vicarious ties," and these ties are arbitrated through common symbols and forms of communication.

Nationalism

While these symbols can reinforce national identity, they are also powerful tools of "nationalism." Nationalism, according to Britannica, is "an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above all others and that places primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations, nationalities, or supranational groups." Haas (1986) adds that nationalism is "the convergence of territorial and political loyalty irrespective of competing foci of affiliation." In the ideology of nationalism, national identity matters more than one's other identities. As Hechter (2001) explains, nationalism is "collective action designed to render the boundaries of the nation congruent with those of its governance unit." In other words, the ideology of nationalism aims to ensure the boundaries of the nation and the state are the same.

Nationalism is naturally tied to the development of the modern nation-state; before a national identity can exist, the nation must exist. As Benedict Anderson (1983) argues, nationalism developed in part due to the advent of the printing press, which was introduced in Europe in the 1400s. As more and more people became literate, they read newspapers ("print capitalism"). This ritual of buying and reading newspapers--and the knowledge that many others were completing the same ritual at the same time--allowed people to feel connected. People therefore no longer saw themselves as detached populations, but as "imagined communities." In this way, nations, and therefore nationalism, were socially constructed.

Scholars identify numerous varieties of nationalism in the world today, and here we will only focus on two broad distinctions. Exclusionary nationalism is the idea that a nation is superior or exceptional, and this type of nationalism can lead to the marginalization of others and/or violence (i.e., it promotes an "us versus them" mentality). Liberal nationalism is the idea that every group of people with a clear national identity should have their own state that adheres to liberal principles (e.g., the protection of individual rights). This type of nationalism can lead to independence movements, or it can develop during or after an independence movement motivated by other factors.

Nationalism can therefore serve as the ideological basis for "irredentist movements" and "separatist movements." An irredentist movement is an attempt by one state to restore a territory that previously belonged to it. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, views Ukraine (a former republic of the Soviet Union that declared independence in 1991) not as a sovereign state, but as a crucial piece of the Russian nation with shared historical and cultural identities that should rejoin Russia. A separatist movement is an attempt by members of a group of people with shared identity to establish their own government, separate from the state they reside in. In Canada, for instance, there have been calls for secession by Quebec, also thought of as "French Canada." Supporters of this effort are represented by a political party called Bloc Quebecois. According to The New York Times, about 30 percent of Quebec's citizens support secession. Far more, however, are focused on maintaining the values, language, and identity of French Canada. Similar to Quebec, the Catalonia region of Spain has its own language and traditions, and it held an independence referendum and declared the establishment of an independent Catalan Republic in October 2017. Though this independence declaration was not recognized by other states or the Spanish government, it illustrates how separatist movements can be both centralizing forces that bring people with shared identities together, but also be decentralizing or damaging to the state. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, as quoted by the BBC, "Spain risked being downgraded from a 'full democracy' to a 'flawed' one over its handling of the situation."

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Holding hands for Catalan Independence. (Source: Catalan independence protest in Times Square, NYC by Liz Castro via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Identity and Citizenship

While national identity and political identity imply a feeling of belonging, citizenship is a legal status of being a citizen of a particular state. A person can feel a sense of belonging to a nation without being a citizen of the state in which the nation exists.

Roughly 30 states grant citizenship at birth (Serhan and Friedman, 2018), and almost all states have a process whereby a person can become a citizen. The difficulty of the process depends on the state; some states require lengthy residency requirements before allowing a citizenship application (e.g., 10 years in Switzerland) while other states require little more than proving ancestry from that state (e.g., "citizenship by descent" in Ireland). Citizenship typically brings certain legal rights and privileges, such as the right to vote, to hold elected office, and to be issued a passport.

Citizenship is often closely tied to patriotism, pride in one's state, rather than nationalism. This is because even though being a citizen confers certain rights and privileges, it also involves special duties. For example, some states like Israel, Russia, and Turkey have conscription for a set of citizens, which is compulsory enlistment for military service. While there are over 100 nationalities in Russia, regardless if a male citizen between the ages of 18-30 is an ethnic Chechen, Russian, Tartar, or a member of another group, all must serve a 12 month term in the military.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Russian guards in uniform. (Source: Russian Guard by Unknown Author via pxhere.com is licensed under CC0)