Marco Antonsich

On territory, the nation-state and the crisis of the hyphen

In an epoch of networks, flows and global mobility, the notion of territory as a politico-institutional bounded space needs further investigation. Besides studying territory as a symbolic resource in nationalist discourses, a control device in the hands of the state or a ‘spatial fix’ in the process of capital accumulation and reproduction, geographers should also explore how territory remains implicated in and implicates discourses and practices of societal integration, belonging and loyalty beyond the national rhetoric of ‘one territory, one people’. The article illustrates this argument by focusing on the case of Western Europe.

National identities in the age of globalisation: The case of Western Europe

In an age of increasing globalisation and political fragmentation, does the nation have the relevance it once had? Is the re-scaling of political and economic processes associated with a similar re-scaling of national identities? The aim of the present paper is to offer an answer to these two questions on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative data recently collected for Western Europe. Cross-country trends for both national pride and national attachment are analyzed through Eurobarometer Standard surveys. Furthermore, the notion of national attachment is discussed in relation to qualitative data collected in four regional case-studies in Western Europe. On the basis of this analysis I argue that, when viewed ‘from below’, i.e. from the eyes of ordinary citizens, national identity continues to shape the predominant ways in which people make sense of themselves and others.

Exploring the correspondence between regional forms of governance and regional identity: The case of Western Europe

In the present post-Fordist epoch, the region has emerged as a strategic site for socioeconomic governance. The region today is viewed as a key centre in processes of capital accumulation and (re)production and it occupies an important position in regulating social life. Yet, little is known about the spatial representations held by people about the regions in which they live. This article aims to contribute to fill this gap, by exploring two interrelated issues: what people mean by region and how they relate their sentiment of regional identity to the regional administrative space to which they belong. The study relies on focus group discussions and individual interviews administered in four West European regions. The empirical research suggests that the region is constructed by people as a geographically ambiguous reference and that their sense of regional identity is not necessarily directed towards the region as an administrative space. This challenges the correspondence between function (governance) and identity theorized by the literature on the institutionalization of regions.

Immigration societies and the question of ‘the national’

The aim of the present article is to offer a reasoned argument for putting the ‘national’ back into migration studies. Scholars engaging with ethno-cultural and religious diversity have often tended to move beyond the nation-state, often treated as a site of oppression and discrimination. Urban, transnational or cosmopolitan registers have instead been put forward, often celebrated for their more progressive attitudes towards diversity. In this article, we review these claims and we also attend to the rich scholarship which, from a political philosophical perspective, has instead argued for the continuing relevance of a national ‘we’ in civic, liberal and multicultural terms. We discuss the missing points in both these strands of literature, making the case for the study of the ‘national’ as both a spatial register and a discursive resource beyond a mono-culturally tinted and essentializing idea of nation. We then conclude with a research agenda which can illuminate the ways through which the ‘national’ remains central in the shaping of contemporary diverse societies.

Exploring the demands of assimilation among white ethnic majorities in Western Europe

Since the mid-1990s, assimilation has gradually regained momentum as both a normative and an analytical concept for understanding the ways in which migrants are incorporated into societies at large. Although scholars have investigated various dimensions of this process, they have tended to privilege the experience of migrants themselves. Comparatively little attention has been dedicated to the perspective of the dominant groups, particularly in relation to what ethnic majority people demand that migrants do in order to be accepted. This article explores these demands of assimilation through qualitative data collected among white local elites in four regional case-studies in Western Europe. The analysis reveals a different picture from the one usually portrayed by ‘new assimilation theory’. Accordingly, I suggest rethinking assimilation in ways which incorporate more fully the plurality of demands put forward by dominant ethnic groups.

“Nature Knows No Boundaries”: A Critical Reading of UNDP Environmental Peacemaking in Cyprus

In 2005, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) set up in Cyprus a peace-building project called Action for Cooperation and Trust (ACT). This project has aimed to create opportunities for bicommunal partnerships on environmental protection as a way to promote intercommunal tolerance. This article discusses critically the efficacy of this project to contribute to the debate on the significance of environmental cooperation in transforming ethno-territorial conflicts. We rely on both survey data and the qualified opinions of Cypriot environmental stakeholders to show that, in the case of Cyprus, successful environmental peacemaking strategies are dependent on widespread environmental awareness, trust in the “third party” (UNDP), and civil societys empowerment, which, however, should complement and not substitute for intervention at a state level. There is also evidence to suggest that the UNDP discourse about “nature knows no boundaries” is most effective when it generates solutions that are perceived to be beneficial to all parties involved, rather than when it uses the environment to discursively construct a common “patriotism” beyond ethnic identities.

Territorial attachment in the age of globalization: The case of Western Europe

The age of globalization has often been associated with de-/re-territorialization processes. The increasing integration of markets and the appearance of new modes of economic production and capital accumulation on the one hand, and the transformation of forms of political governance on the other, have led to the emergence of new territorial actors at the supra-national and sub-national scales. While these economic and political de-/re-territorialization processes have been studied at length, relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation of the territorial identities associated with these spaces. The aim of the present study is twofold. First, it aims to understand whether territorial identities are experiencing a similar re-scaling along with modes of economic production and forms of political governance. Second, it explores which factors today explain the attachment of people to their territories. A descriptive analysis of Eurobarometer survey data for Western Europe reveals no signs of a re-scaling of territorial identities, pointing to a sort of inertia of these identities in relation to the changing of political and economic structures. A statistical model on four scales of territorial attachment (local, regional, national and European) shows the complexity of its formation, as both personal compositional and regional contextual factors should be taken into account.

Interculturalism versus multiculturalism - The Cantle-Modood debate

This is the accepted version of a paper subsequently published in the journal Ethnicities. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468796815604558

Governing through Diversity

Further information about the book, Governing through Diversity: Migration Societies in Post-Multiculturalist Times is available at: https://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/governing-through-diversity-tatiana-matejskova/?K=9781137438249

Affective nationalism: Issues of power, agency and method

This commentary was published in the journal, Progress in Human Geography [SAGE