Since the Islamic revolution, Iran has experienced deep identity changes in its foreign policy. The Islamic Republic redefined the way to interact with the world based on the Shi'ite ideas and the ...historical memory of Iranians. With the growing tensions between Iran and the West, conflicts can be seen between Iran's defined identity and its foreign policy actions, to the extent that in cases such as Iran's policy towards Russia and the path of Iran-China relations, the principles of Iran's identity have been ignored. This article considers why there is a conflict between the positions and actions of Iran and the identity that this country represents, focusing on the period after the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Using the descriptive-explanatory method, this article tests the hypothesis that although the intensification of sanctions has strengthened the narrative of anti-Westernism in Iran, the transformation of anti-Westernism into a dominant identity discourse has caused other layers of identity to be marginalised and even ignored in some cases. This situation has created a disconnection between Iran's actions and its biographical narrative.
How inclusive are European national identities of Muslim minorities and how can we explain cross-cultural variation in inclusiveness? To address these questions, we draw on large-scale school-based ...surveys of Muslim minority and non-Muslim majority and other minority youth in five European countries (Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey CILS; Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden). Our double comparison of national identification across groups and countries reveals that national identities are less strongly endorsed by all minorities compared with majority youth, but national identification is lowest among Muslims. This descriptive evidence resonates with public concerns about the insufficient inclusion of immigrant minorities in general, and Muslims in particular, in European national identities. In addition, significant country variation in group differences in identification suggest that some national identities are more inclusive of Muslims than others. Taking an intergroup relations approach to the inclusiveness of national identities for Muslims, we establish that beyond religious commitment, positive intergroup contact (majority friendship) plays a major role in explaining differences in national identification in multigroup multilevel mediation models, whereas experiences of discrimination in school do not contribute to this explanation. Our comparative findings thus establish contextual variation in the inclusiveness of intergroup relations and European national identities for Muslim minorities.
While the (mis) use of history to fuel particular constructions of the nation is well‐documented in the literature, the ways in which nationhood narratives and national ideologies evolve and ...transform over time are rarely explored. When ruptures – such as state failure or civil war – occur, interpretations of history and nationhood narratives cannot be completely rewritten. Rather, they need to follow up upon previous, established versions, relying on anchoring motives that offer a minimum level of continuity. Relying on a systematic analysis of over forty years of history revisionism in Serbia and Croatia (1974 to 2017), I demonstrate the discursive ways in which nationhood narratives evolved over time and space: from the dismantling of the former common Socialist narrative, replacement with new ethno‐national narratives, the bumpy transformations through the democratic transitions, to the gradual consolidation into the ‘new’ reconstructed nationhood narratives prevailing in the two countries today.
Scholars have long recognized that national identity-related factors are among the strongest predictors of citizens’ attitudes toward the European Union. But while some find that they reinforce ...support for the European Union, other scholars show that national identity undermines its support. In this article, we aim to disentangle this puzzle by studying how the national identity profiles of European citizens relate to support for the European Union across individuals and member states. To this end, we employ data from the International Social Survey Program 2013, by far the most extensive collection of survey questions on national identity, and the technique of latent class analysis. Our results show which specific configurations of national identity entail support, ambivalence or rejection of the European Union, their antecedents, and their variation across countries.
Background:
Social distancing and mass quarantines were implemented worldwide in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research has shown that such measures bear negative consequences for ...population mental health and well-being. Conversely, a growing body of evidence suggests that feeling positively identified with a group is associated with physical and mental health benefits.
Aims:
This study tested whether national identification could promote wellbeing and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method:
We used survey data conducted among 67 countries (N = 46,450).
Results:
Mixed-model analyses revealed that national identity was associated with wellbeing – despite adjustment on social belonging, COVID-19 perceived risk, exposure and ideology. This effect did not extend to physical health.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that the mere feeling of belonging to a national group may have mental health benefits. We discuss the implications of our findings within the social cure framework and their relevance for population mental health under COVID-19.
This article explores schools as a key organisational context for the (re)production of national identity, and uses ongoing debates around the national curriculum for history, to illuminate the ...ongoing lacunae in Britain's national memory. Taking the recent Windrush scandal as a starting point, we examine how these events reflect broader processes of historical forgetting in contemporary discussions around migration, empire and its loss. While this has been challenged by academic historians, there is a significant gap between these discourses and how history is taught in schools, which remain a key site for the transmission of a highly selective historical narrative/repertoire. We use the experience of the recent Our Migration Story project to consider alternative ways of thinking about Britain's history, and to explore the importance of, and the difficulties in, challenging dominant memorialising practices.
The paper adds insights to the ongoing discussion about how the political participation gap between naturalised immigrants and native citizens can be closed. In contrast to prior research, however, ...it takes a new turn by looking at the moderating role of national attachments, namely national identity and patriotism, in the relationship between immigration background and political involvement. The research question is explored based on the paradigmatic case of Switzerland with its high levels of foreign born citizens and the historically strong identification as a political nation. Based on the results we can say that national attachments are indeed able to bridge the participation gap. The effect of patriotism - the evaluative dimension of national attachment - thereby plays a more important role for immigrants than simple national identification.
La identidad constituye una de las cuestiones centrales de la reflexión política y teórica de Jürgen Habermas. Su interés por ella se concentra en la configuración de un nosotros y, en mucha menor ...medida, en la individualidad de cada sujeto, que, en todo caso, es referida desde las interacciones que lo conforman. La atención a la identidad permite acercarse al pensamiento de Habermas desde su preocupación por la construcción de una identidad europea y por las dificultades para incorporarla como identidad postnacional. La pretensión de formular una ciudadanía europea se asienta sobre una concepción singular del patriotismo constitucional. Su orientación hacia un universalismo moral encuentra en el derecho internacional su expresión normativa más ajustada, desde donde mide las posibilidades de la racionalidad comunicativa para la materialización de identidades que estarían siempre en proceso y abiertas al cambio.
The development of police legitimacy evaluations is a core component of the legal socialization process. Research has identified many factors that impact peoples’ perceptions of legitimacy such as ...social and ethnic identity, but the role of American identity has yet to be examined. This study attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that impact legal socialization by examining the relationship between American identity and police legitimacy evaluations. Using a sample of 2086 adults from the United States, we found that people with a stronger American identity were more likely to believe the police are a legitimate authority after accounting for other known predictors of legitimacy. The results demonstrate that national identity may be play a key role in the legal socialization process and partially shape peoples’ evaluations of police legitimacy regardless of the content and quality of interactions they have with the police.
PDF
