Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:29:14.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

National identity and the Other: imagining the EU from the Czech Lands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Daniel Esparza
Daniel Esparza*
Affiliation:
Department of Romance Studies, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Email: daniel.esparza@upol.cz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

National identity is constructed through successive identifications with significant Others. This article discusses the phenomenon of change and continuity in Czech identity. It is focused here on the identification towards the EU, which has become the most significant Other of today in two ways: (a) (change) contributing to overcoming the identity crisis provoked by the drastic changes that occurred between 1989 and 1993 (change of regime, disappearance of the USSR and the break-up of Czechoslovakia), and therefore the subsequent drastic changes in relations with past significant Others: communism, the USSR, and the Slovaks; and (b) (continuity) reaffirming one of the fundamental elements during the national revival in the nineteenth century, democracy, upon which the various identifications towards the EU have been aligned. According to the differing interpretations of what democracy means, and three other criteria of the “levels of Othering,” the EU has been “imagined,” on the one hand, as an entity where Czechs can flourish in their identity and ensure their freedom and democratic values (positive Other), and, on the other, as an “oppressor” entity which portrays democratic deficit, restricts freedom, and threatens Czech national identity (negative Other).

Keywords

national identityCzech RepublicEUthe Other
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 413 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983. Print.Google Scholar
Baun, Michael, et al. “The Europeanization of Czech Politics: The Political Parties and the EU Referendum.” JCMS 44.2 (2006): 249–80. Print.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Bugge, Peter. “Czech Perceptions of EU Membership: Havel vs. Klaus.” The Road to the European Union: The Czech and Slovak Republics, Ed. Rupnik, J. and Zielonka, J., Vol. 1. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2003: 180–98. Print.Google Scholar
Cadová-Horáková, Naděžda. “Clenství Ceské Republiky v Evropské Unii Ocima Verejnosti [EU Membership of the Czech Republic in the Eyes of the Czech Public].” CVVM 5 May 2006. Web.Google Scholar
Cadová-Horáková, Naděžda. “Postoje Ceských Obcanu k Evropské Unii a Jejímu Rozsirování [Czech Public Attitude to the EU and its Enlargement].” CVVM 21 Feb. 2007. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100656s_pm70221.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Cadová-Horáková, Naděžda. “Postoje k Evropské Integraci a Hodnotám Uplatnovaným v Evropské Unii [Attitude towards EU Integration and the Values Portrayed by the EU].” CVVM 11 May 2007. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100683s_pm70511.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Chemana, Roland. Diccionario de Psicoanálisis. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Chludilová, Iva. “Evaluation of European Integration.” CVVM 14 Nov. 2002. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100130se_PM21114a-EN.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Cram, Laura. “Identity and European Integration: Diversity as a Source of Integration.” Nations and Nationalism 15.1 (2009): 109–28. Print.Google Scholar
Dor, Joël. Introducción a la Lectura de Lacan. La Estructura del Sujeto. Buenos Aires: Gedisa, 1986. Print.Google Scholar
Drulak, Petr. “The Czech EU Presidency: Background and Priorities.” European Democracy in Action: Notre Europe (2008). Web. 25 Jan. 2009. <http://www.notreeurope.eu/uploads/tx_publication/Etud67-PDrulak-CzechEUPResidency-en_01.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Drulak, Petr. National and European Identities in the EU Enlargement: Views from Central and Eastern Europe. Prague: Institute of International Relations, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: Allen, 1915. Print.Google Scholar
Dvořaková, Vladimíra, and Kunc, Jiří. “The Plurality of the ‘Pasts’ as a Problem of Today.” In Political Culture in the Baltic Sea Area and in Eastern Europe, Ed. Rotholz, Walter, Berlin: Aland, 2003: 28–37. Print.Google Scholar
Erikson, Erik. Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1968. Print.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “Identidad Nacional y Longue Durèe: La Reencarnación del Mito de las Dos Españas tras el 11-M.” Tençoes Mundiais–World Tensions 3.5 (2007): 48–74. Print.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “Imagining the ‘Two Spain’ Myth during the Zapatero's Legislature: The Reincarnation of the Second Republic and the Civil War.” KIAS Papers. Yearbook 2007. Ed. Springerová, Pavlina and Haisman, Jan. Hradec Kralové: U of Hradec Kralové. 101–10. Print.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “The Other in the Czech National Imaginary: The Czech National Identity Facing the EU.” Diss. Department of Politics, UNED, 2008. Web. <http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/view.php?pid=tesisuned:CiencPolSoc-Desparza>..>Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “Reflexiones sobre la Presidencia Checa en la UE: ¿La Peor de toda la historia o crisis de identidad generalizada? [Thoughts about the Czech EU Presidency: The Worst in History or a Generalized Identity Crisis?].” Real Instituto Elcano. ARI n. 157. 17 Nov. 2009. Web. http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_es/zonas_es/europa/ari157-2009.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “El Significado Simbólico de Jára Cimrman en el Mundo Checo: Un ensayo sobre identidad nacional y la longue durée. [The Symbolic Meaning of Jára Cimrman in the Czech World].” Romanica Olomucensia 21.1 (2009): 80–87. Print.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel. “Klans and the Reincarnation of the Hussite Stigma.” New Prescence (Winter 2010): 57–8. Print.Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel, and Mestanková, P. “Los Checos frente a la Crisis Europea [The Czechs Facing the European Crisis].” Real Instituto Elcano. ARI n. 60. 29 May 2007. Web. <http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_es/zonas_es/ari+60-2007>..>Google Scholar
Esparza, Daniel, and Tensions Editors, World. “Interview with Miroslav Hroch.” World Tensions–Tençoes Mundiais 3.4 (2007): 10–55. Web. <http://www.tensoesmundiais.ufc.br/artigos/Revista%20No%204/Interview.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Gergen, K. J. The Saturated Self. New York: Basic, 1991. Print.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Chris. “The Irish Question and the Concept ‘Identity’ in the 1980s.” Nations and Nationalism 13.4 (2007): 599–617. Print.Google Scholar
Göl, Ayla. “Imagining the Turkish Nation through ‘Othering’ Armenians.” Nations and Nationalism 11.1 (2005): 121–39. Print.Google Scholar
Guibernau, Montserrat. The Identity of Nations. Cambridge: Polity, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Henderson, Karen, ed. Back to Europe: Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union. London: UCL P, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Erik. Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Holy, Lalislav. The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Horáková, Naděžda. “Postoje Českych Občanů k Evropské Unii [Attitudes of Czech Citizens to the EU].” CVVM 16 June 2005. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100495s_pm50617.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Horáková, Naděžda. “Smlouva o Ústave pro Evropu Ocima Verejnosti [Agreement on EU Constitution in the Eyes of the Czech Public].” CVVM 23 Aug. 2005. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100506s_pm50823.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Hroch, Miroslav. “From Ethnic Group toward the Modern Nation: The Czech Case.” Nations and Nationalism 10.1/2 (2004): 95–107. Print.Google Scholar
Hroch, Miroslav. “From National Movement to the Fully Formed Nation: The Nation Building Process in Europe.” In Mapping the Nation, Ed. Balakrishnan, G., New York: Verso, 1996: 78–97. Print.Google Scholar
Innerarity, Daniel. La Sociedad Invisible. Madrid: Espasa, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Jesenská, Milena. “Am I Czech above All Else?” New Presence 3 (1997): 7. Print.Google Scholar
Kearney, Richard. The Wake of Imagination: Toward a Postmodern Culture. London: Routledge, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Klvaňa, Tomaš. “The End of the Czech Question.” New Presence (Winter 2002): 5. Print.Google Scholar
Kopecký, Petr, and Mudde, Cas. “The Two Sides of Euroscepticism: Party Position on European Integration in East Central Europe.” European Union Politics 3.3 (2002): 297–326. Print.Google Scholar
LaPlant, James, et al. “Decentralization in the Czech Republic: The European Union, Political Parties, and the Creation of Regional Assemblies.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 34.1 (2004): 35–51. Print.Google Scholar
Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio, and Doise, Willem. “Identidad Social e Identidad Personal.” Estereotipos, Discriminación y Relaciones entre Grupos, Ed. Bourhis, R. and Leyens, J.P., Madrid: McGraw-Hill, 1996:71–90. Print.Google Scholar
Marek, Dan. Od Moskvy k Bruselu: Vztahy mezi Ceskou republikou a Evropkou unií v období 1957–2004. Brno: Barrister, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Mayhew, A. Enlargement of the EU: An Analysis of the Negotiations with the Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries. SEI Working Paper no. 39. Dec. 2000. Web. <http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sei/documents/wp39.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Michlic, Joanna. “The Jews and the Formation of the Modern National Identity in Poland.” Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism, Ed. Leoussi, A. and Grosby, S., Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2007: 129–42. Print.Google Scholar
Musil, Jiři. “Emergence and Survival of the Nation-State.” New Presence (Autumn 2003): 19–21. Print.Google Scholar
Nasio, Juan. Enseñanza de 7 Conceptos Cruciales del Psicoanálisis, Gedisa: Barcelona, 1991: 135–65. Print.Google Scholar
Nasio, Juan. El Placer de Leer a Freud. Barcelona: Gedisa, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Petersoo, Pille. “Reconsidering Otherness: Constructing Estonian Identity.” Nations and Nationalism 13.1 (2007): 117–33. Print.Google Scholar
Rezková, Miluše. “Čtyři měsíce před referendum o připojení ČR k EU: Jak bychom dnes hlasovali [Four Months before the Referendum on the Accession of the CZ to the EU: How Would we Vote Today?].” CVVM 24 Feb. 2003. Web.Google Scholar
Rezková, Miluše. “Integrace CR do EU – Aktuálni Postoje a Názory [Czech Republic Integration in the EU – Perceptions and Opinions].” CVVM 2 July 2002. Web. <http://www.cvvm.cas.cz/upl/zpravy/100083s_PM20702.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Ruiz, Antonia, et al. “European and National Identities in EU's Old and New Member States: Ethnic, Civic, Instrumental and Symbolic Components.” European Integration Online Papers 8.11 (2004). Web. <http://www.eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2004-011a.htm>..>Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank, and Sedelmeier, Ulrich, eds. The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe. London: Cornell UP, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. Ethno-symbolism and Nationalism: A Cultural Approach. London: Routledge, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Cambridge: Polity, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. “National Identity and the Idea of European Unity.” International Affairs 68.1 (1992): 55–76. Print.Google Scholar
Stroehlein, Andrew. “Czech and Czechness.” New Presence 6 (1997): 16–19. Print.Google Scholar
Struhárová, Beáta. “Where is my Home?” New Presence 8 (1997): 23–25. Print.Google Scholar
Stryker, Sheldon. “Identity Theory and Personality Theory: Mutual Relevance.” Journal of Personality 75.6 (2007): 1083–102. Print.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri. Human Groups and Social Categories. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981. Print.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri., ed. Social Identity and Intergroup Relations. London: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print.Google Scholar
Todd, Jennifer. “National Identity in Transition? Moving out of Conflict in (Northern) Ireland.” Nations and Nationalism 13.4 (2007): 565–71. Print.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, Anna. Immigrants and National Identity in Europe. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 21.4 (1998): 593–612. Print.Google Scholar
Triandafyllidou, Anna. “Popular Perceptions of Europe: The Case of Italy.” Nations and Nationalism 14.2 (2008): 261–82. Print.Google Scholar
Zimmer, Oliver. “Boundary Mechanisms and Symbolic Resources: Towards a Process Oriented Approach to National Identity.” Nations and Nationalism 9.2 (2003): 173–93. Print.Google Scholar