The ruler and the dynasty and the Syrian state's institutions have won the battle, but it is doubtful whether this is the victory of a 'Syrian identity' that the Syrian regime has sought to promote ...in recent decades. It seems, therefore, that the built-in tension between the components of the Syrian state identity remains the same and so do the doubts regarding the degree of identification and commitment of the Syrians to their country. Thus, the question of identity, which has been a key question throughout Syrian history, remains a relevant question for the future of the Syrian state. The civil war that broke out in Syria in the spring of 2011 witnessed ups and downs and sharp turnarounds, some entirely unforeseen. After nearly a decade of bloody fighting, the war was finally nearly over. While the restoration of stability and peacemaking in the country remain remote, if at all viable objectives, the fighting on the battlefield has been decided and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ended with the upper hand.
By employing discourse-historical approach and corpus linguistics, this paper examines media reports to analyze the Chinese official discourse in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. The results ...demonstrate that a paradox of globalism and nationalism has been simultaneously reflected when reporting the global pandemic. Based on a polarizing discursive construction of positive “self” and negative “others,” on many occasions, the globalist and nationalist arguments have been closely intertwined and complement each other to reinforce the legitimacy of the ruling party at home and the international reputation of China under the leadership of the ruling party.
Americans, Not Partisans Levendusky, Matthew S.
The Journal of politics,
01/2018, Letnik:
80, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In recent years, Americans have become more affectively polarized: that is, ordinary Democrats and Republicans increasingly dislike and distrust members of the opposing party. Such polarization is ...normatively troubling, as it exacerbates gridlock and dissensus in Washington. Given these negative consequences, I investigate whether it is possible to ameliorate this partisan discord. Building on the Common Ingroup Identity Model from social psychology, I show that when subjects’ sense of American national identity is heightened, they come to see members of the opposing party as fellow Americans rather than rival partisans. As a result, they like the opposing party more, thereby reducing affective polarization. Using several original experiments, as well as a natural experiment surrounding the July 4th holiday and the 2008 summer Olympics, I find strong support for my argument. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for efforts to reduce polarization more generally.
This study explores the role of China's rural tourism in building domestic tourists' national identity, with a model illustrating the construction path and causality. In-depth interviews were ...conducted with domestic tourists, and grounded theory was adopted as the qualitative analysis method. The conceptualised theoretical framework suggests that with embodied experience as the premise, feelings and emotions, cognition and learning, and collective memory are the main attributes influencing national identity. Under the combined influence of these factors, strong emotional bonding, awareness of unity, and cognition of the characteristics of their own ‘community’ are generated, effectively shaping and strengthening national identity. These findings also serve as a practical reference for strengthening national identity and improving the management of rural tourism destinations.
National identities are often conceived of as factors that lend structure and stability to citizens’ political opinions on issues such as immigration. While citizens who define national membership in ...ethno-cultural terms are less likely to support immigration, those with a civic conception are more likely to do so. The authors propose that defining national identity along both ethno-cultural and civic lines may give rise to conflicting considerations, leading people to experience ambivalence, implying that national identities may serve less as a stabilizing force than suggested by previous research. Findings from heterogeneous choice models and a unique survey experiment show that German citizens with mixed conceptions of national identity had more variable and more malleable opinions than individuals with ideal-type conceptions during the 2015/2016 European refugee crisis. The findings point to an identity-based source of ambivalence and extend current understandings of how people form attitudes towards immigration.
Disagreements over whether polarization exists in the mass public have confounded two separate types of polarization. When social polarization is separated from issue position polarization, both ...sides of the polarization debate can be simultaneously correct. Social polarization, characterized by increased levels of partisan bias, activism, and anger, is increasing, driven by partisan identity and political identity alignment, and does not require the same magnitude of issue position polarization. The partisan-ideological sorting that has occurred in recent decades has caused the nation as a whole to hold more aligned political identities, which has strengthened partisan identity and the activism, bias, and anger that result from strong identities, even though issue positions have not undergone the same degree of polarization. The result is a nation that agrees on many things but is bitterly divided nonetheless. An examination of ANES data finds strong support for these hypotheses.
ABSTRACT
The article examines how the political capital of cultural anniversaries may promote national identity in an authoritarian state. It investigates whether the 1967 centenary of Käthe Kollwitz ...(1867–1945) helped the GDR to build a distinct national identity in common with the aims of similar commemorations in the GDR. The twin themes of demarcation from the FRG and appropriation of the German cultural heritage dominated the ideological framework for commemorations throughout GDR history. Primary sources on both sides of the Cold War appear to have accepted the work and life of Kollwitz as essentially linked to the GDR. This reduced the need for the GDR authorities to amplify this framework when planning events. Yet a closer analysis of how she was portrayed reveals discrepancies between the theory and practice of this commemoration. The article examines two types of anniversary activity. Firstly, a film in which various narratives proposing a politicised construct of Kollwitz as an anti‐fascist, communist, and pacifist appear to conflict with a domesticated paradigm of Kollwitz as ‘grieving mother’. Secondly, an anniversary exhibition that concentrates rather on framing the narrative of ‘Kämpferin für das Proletariat’. Despite these inconsistencies, Kollwitz's position as an existing socialist role model who contributed to the construct of GDR national identity was confirmed by the commemoration rather than noticeably strengthened.
Zusammenfassung
Der Artikel untersucht, wie das politische Kapital von kulturellen Jubiläen die nationale Identität in einem autoritären Staat stärken kann. Überprüft wird, ob das Hundertjahrjubiläum 1967 von Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) der DDR half, eine ausgeprägte nationale Identität in Übereinstimmung mit den Zielen gleichartiger Jubiläen aufzubauen. Die sich wechselseitig bedingenden Begriffe ʻAbgrenzungʼ gegenüber der BRD, und ʻAneignungʼ des Deutschen Kulturgutes beherrschten den ideologischen Rahmen für solche Gedenkfeiern während der gesamten Geschichte der DDR. Aber Primärquellen deuten darauf hin, dass die Akzeptanz offenbar auf beiden Seiten des Eisernen Vorhangs vorherrschte, dass das künstlerische Werk und das politische Leben der Kollwitz im Wesentlichen mit der DDR verbunden waren. Das verminderte den Druck auf die DDR‐Behörden, den genannten ideologischen Rahmen bei der Planung von Feiern zu betonen. Jedoch zeigt eine genauere Untersuchung der Art, wie diese Jubiläen durchgeführt wurden, dass es Diskrepanzen zwischen Theorie und Praxis gab. Der Artikel untersucht zwei solche Aktivitäten: Einerseits einen Film, in dem verschiedene Erzählstränge Kollwitz als ʻpolitisiertes Konstruktʼ darstellen – antifaschistisch, kommunistisch, pazifistisch. Diese Darstellungen scheinen hier mit dem Paradigma von Kollwitz als ʻtrauernder Mutterʼ in Konflikt zu geraten. Im Gegensatz dazu konzentriert sich die Gedenkausstellung zum Jubiläum darauf, sie als ʻKämpferin für das Proletariatʼ hervorzuheben. Trotz dieser Widersprüche wurde der Status von Kollwitz als bestehendes sozialistisches Vorbild, das zur nationalen Identität der DDR beitrug, durch die Gedenkfeiern neu bestätigt, aber nicht merklich verstärkt.
Understanding borders as powerful markers signifying state and nation, this paper seeks to uncover their actual meaning(s) for national identity held by ordinary citizens, as expressed on social ...media. As a case study, we focus on the "Evros incident," when some thousands of refugees were attempting to cross the Turkish-Greek border, supported by the Turkish government. Based on Twitter data we propose a methodology to uncover the social and political ground upon which national identity is discussed during critical events, as well as the contents of national identity evidenced in our corpus. Four main topics were found, focusing on popular geopolitics, the borders, the presentation of refugees as "invaders," and the portrait of "the enemy within." The finding that Greek national identity is divided, while so far extensively discussed theoretically was not yet empirically documented. Our research not only documents the division, but also exemplifies its contents.
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