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European identity and national identities

To understand European identity, one has to understand how it relates to national identity.

In this video, we start by defining national identity, as a combination of different elements such as language, political culture, customs.

We then move on to question European identity, stressing its lack of emotional power, compared to national identity. We introduce three models to describe the way European identity relates to national identities: as supranational identity, as nested identities and as amalgated identities.

Finally, we discuss the idea of European nationalism, which can be understood as the sum of the nationalisms of the different European countries, but also as European cosmopolitanism, going beyond nationalism and its violent expressions.

What do you think?

Do you agree that European identity does not have the same emotional dimension as national identities?

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Cultures and Identities in Europe

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