T. Reeskens

Nationalism and the cohesive society: a multilevel analysis of the interplay among diversity, national identity, and social capital across 27 European societies

A spate of work has demonstrated tensions between ethno-cultural diversity and social capital. Some have suggested that attachment to the nation can foster cross-group trust, particularly if this national self-definition is “civic” in character rather than “ethnic” (the Miller thesis). Similarly, others have argued that civic nations are less likely to suffer reduced social capital in response to increased diversity, as the sense of threat that typically emerges in ethnically diverse contexts will be mitigated (the Putnam thesis). The authors test these hypotheses on 27 countries using both contextual-level data and the latest wave of the European Values Study (2008). Though the evidence is mixed on civic nationalism, the authors find strong evidence that ethnic nationalism goes hand-in-hand with reduced social capital and that it increases the negative social impact of diversity. So although this study only partially confirms the benefits of civic nationalism, it clearly underlines the costs of its ethnic variety.

Political mobilisation, ethnic diversity and social cohesion: the conditional effect of political parties

Recent research on the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion indicates that the effects of diversity are not necessarily universal. In this article we hypothesise that the rhetoric of political parties conditions whether diversity negatively affects generalised trust. Political campaigns might highlight the salience of cultural diversity issues in their discourse or, moreover, use a divisive rhetoric of ‘nationalistic’ positions. Thus political mobilisation might heighten the perceived conflict between those who are native born and immigrants, especially in diverse societies. In order to test this argument, we investigate the influence of political rhetoric framed on cultural diversity issues, that is, nationalism and multiculturalism — obtained from the Comparative Manifestos Project– on generalised trust in 21 European democracies. We find that the negative impact of ethnic diversity on trust is particularly strong when these issues are mobilised by political parties. It does not, however, matter whether these issues are presented in a positive or negative light.

European feelings of deprivation amidst the financial crisis Effects of welfare state effort and informal social relations

As European governments have embraced the credo of austerity, the perennial discussion whether welfare states erode the quality of social networks has taken on a more prominent position on political and social science research agendas. While non-believers of this so-called ‘crowding out’ thesis argue that social networks flourish well in welfare states, believers argue that welfare provisions render social networks irrelevant in mobilizing resources. Using the 2010 wave of the European Social Survey, we analyse the extent to which both the welfare state and social networks have prevented deprivation, as well as the extent to which the functional quality of social networks in inhibiting impoverishment differs as a function of welfare state generosity. Both the ‘crowding out’ and the ‘crowding in’ theses are supported: resources are less mobilized through networks in more generous welfare states precisely because encompassing welfare provisions reduce deprivation significantly, lowering the functional quality of social networks.

3. Shifting Loyalties? Globalization and National Identity in the Twenty-First Century

The worldwide economic crisis that closed the first decade of the twenty-first century aptly characterizes the reach of economic globalization, as the September 2008 collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank triggered a domino effect that impacted many other financial institutions, countries and citizens. The financial crisis has also shown that globalization subsumes politics and culture as well as economics. The economic crisis begat new supranational initiatives, such as the European Stability Mechanism, which was created by the European Union (EU) member states. The economic downturn slowed immigration to advanced industrialized societies. Two possible narratives arise in the face of globalization: nationalist decline and nationalist backlash. A multilevel, cross-national research design and the 2008 wave of the European Values Study (EVS) allows substantial leverage for understanding what kinds of people exhibit particular patterns of national identity, as well as for explaining how patterns of national identity vary in tandem with globalization. Keywords: European Stability Mechanism; European Union (EU); European Values Study (EVS); globalization; Lehman Brothers bank; national identity