NATIONALISM AND TRANSNATIONALISM

This article discusses both nationalism and transnationalism and focuses on the dynamic interplay between the two. While attention is paid to the global evolution of these concepts, emphasis is placed in the historical patterns of the New (post-1945 and post-1989) Europe. By way of introduction, the chapter discusses the different disciplinary conventions that have shaped our understandings of ‘national’ and ‘transnational’. Taking the current transnationalization of individual life-worlds throughout Europe as its departure point, it poses the question whether the nation-state is becoming a relic of the past, and whether post-World War II European developments offer sufficient support for such a post national thesis. By the term ‘post-national’ I refer to these theoretical and policy-making perspectives that have suggested that the world (and Europe, in particular,) has moved beyond the historical phase of nationalism as a popular form of legitimacy and sovereignty. Accordingly, in the post-1989 New World Order the principles of democracy, rule of law, human rights and so on are (or should be) applied universally without them being mediated, filtered, reinterpreted and restricted by the nation state. However, a brief overview of recent policy trends suggests that there is insufficient support for such a thesis: while post nationalism was a major popular theme in the 1990s, the post-9/11 international environment has significantly curtailed its appeal both in Europe and worldwide.
But this does not mean that Europe remains hostage to nationalism. Rather, as the next section of this chapter argues, European institutions have rather successfully developed a formal and informal culture of compromise whereby nationalist disputes are managed through various institutions. Europeans have been able to put their nationalisms into good use, so to speak, and the strength and progress of the EU is largely dependent upon the local national images of a future united Europe. Lastly, while the cross-cultural flows of people, ideas, and media products have led to the transnationalization of everyday life throughout Europe, the same does not apply to various regimes governing the movement of ‘Third Countries nationals’ (TCNs) into the common EU space. With regard to immigrant transnationalism, several different modes of incorporation have been developed, ranging from immigrant assimilation to interactive pluralism. European societies are not likely to adopt a uniform regime or mode of incorporation with regard to TCNs. On the contrary, it is far more likely that each society will develop its own context-specific regime.