Europe's Contending Identities

How 'European' are Europeans? Is it possible to balance national citizenship with belonging to the European Union overall? Do feelings of citizenship and belonging respond to affiliations to regions, religions or reactionary politics? Unlike previous volumes about identity in Europe, this book offers a more comprehensive view of the range of identities and new arguments about the political processes that shape identity formation. The founders of European integration promised 'an ever closer union'. Nationalists respond that a people should control their own destiny. This book investigates who is winning the debate. The chapters show that attitudes toward broader political communities are changing, that new ideas are gaining ground, and that long-standing trends are possibly reversing course.1. Introduction: identifying with Europe? Anthony M. Messina; Part I. Framing the Prospects for a European Identity: 2. E pluribus Europa? Jack Citrin and Matthew Wright; 3. European disunion? The implications of 'super' diversity for European identity and political community Anthony M. Messina; Part II. Ethnoregional Challenges: 4. Strange bedfellows: public support for the EU among regionalists Seth Kinkaid Jolly; 5. Institutional change and ethnoterritorial party representation at the European level Bonnie M. Meguid; 6. European integration and an alternative party family: regionalist parties and the European question Margarita Gomez-Reino; Part III. Religious Challenges: 7. Muslims and multicultural nationalism in Scotland William L. Miller and Asifa Hussain; 8. Are all Britons reluctant Europeans? Exploring European identity and attitudes to Europe among British citizens of South Asian ethnicity Marco Cinnirella and Saira Hamilton; 9. Islam and political ideologies in Europe Andrew C. Gould; Part IV. New Nationalist Challenges: 10. Nationalism vs. multiculturalism: European identity and the impact of the radical right on antidiscrimination policy in Europe Terri E. Givens; 11. New Europe, enduring conflicts: the politics of European integration in the enlarged EU Nicole Lindstrom; 12. Conclusions: challenges to European identity and integration: regional limits, durable nationalism, and religion and otherness Andrew C. Gould.