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While some studies have examined the impact of globalization on national identity 'from below', their findings are inconclusive, some arguing that national identity is less important for people in more globalized countries, others finding evidence to the contrary. Addressing and resolving some of the previous studies limitations, this article investigates the relationship between globalization and national identity with four cross-national surveys, using 149 national samples across 74 countries, inspecting whether country level of globalization impacts ethnic identity and whether globalization moderates between patriotism and ethnic identity. The findings indicate that although ethnic identity levels are lower in the more globalized than the less globalized countries, globalization has no differential effect on the strong and positive link between patriotism and ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the political debates in Europe call for the strengthening of a national identity that is, somewhat paradoxically, described in universal liberal terms. Yet previous research has not been able to tell to which extent these conceptions of national identity are indeed liberal. This is because we lack an analytical tool that allows liberal conceptions of national identity to be separated from, for example, conservative ones. There is also a pervasive yet questionable assumption that the more liberal a national identity is, the less it can per definition be truly national. This paper seeks to remedy this gap, by bridging the literature on these empirical trends of civic integration with the normative debates surrounding liberal nationalism. The result is a tripartite typology for the conceptions of national identity in conservative nationalism, liberal nationalism and constitutional patriotism, respectively. Each is specified along the following dimensions: (1) whether the sense of national belonging is defined by vertical or horizontal ties; (2) whether the national history is to be revered, taken as a starting point or critically scrutinised; (3) whether the legitimate place for the shared activity by which the national identity is upheld excludes the private or even the public non-political sphere; (4) whether we are asked to cultivate feelings of piety or loyalty to the homeland; and (5) whether or not the shared public culture of the nation is considered changeable and enforceable. Policy implications for individual rights, immigration and cultural minorities are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent may an historic nation impress its religious identity on the public space of its society? For example, does it have a right to ban the wearing of hijabs in schools, to insist on the display of crucifixes in school classrooms, or to ban the construction of minarets? My aim in this article is to critically examine the answers which liberal nationalism gives to these questions, focusing in particular on David Miller's version of this theory. His key claim is that the religion associated with the historic nation may legitimately be given a predominant place in public space. After outlining the principal elements of Miller's position, I shall criticise the general principle on which it is based, before challenging his views on several particular issues. My conclusion will be that, whilst the historic nation has the right to express its religious identity in the public space of its society to some degree, this right is significantly more constrained than Miller believes. Constraints are derived, in particular, from consideration of the particular nature of different kinds of public space, and consideration of what people need from such spaces, including the need for spaces in which they can express themselves and in which they can feel at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interpretations of policy developments across Europe have suggested a potential tension between multiculturalism and national identity. This article examines how this tension has been understood in British political debate by analysing, as a proxy, debates from the House of Lords. These debates show that four competing frames exist on the relationship between multiculturalism and national identity. These frames offer rival perspectives on the issues surrounding multiculturalism and national identity; they present different problems and solutions. Moreover, the article shows how these frames start from different interpretations of the social reality they are responding to. It concludes by questioning the pursuit of consensus on these matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary forms of English identity and nationalism have received sustained attention since the late 1990s. Much of this attention has been framed in terms of English responses to recent constitutional changes in the UK, particularly Scottish and Welsh devolution in 1997. In this paper, I try to understand contemporary sentiments towards Englishness less in terms of political change, and more in terms of its relationship to class. Drawing on qualitative interviews with the ethnic majority respondents, I demonstrate the associations people make between class, inequality and exclusion and being English. In particular, I identify both a decline in social deference and an increase in contempt towards a so-called underclass in people’s talk about being English. In reflecting on this, I suggest that part of the explanation for why people are uneasy about identifying with ‘being English’ relates to an absence of an equal sense of English national membership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Canada’s Conservative government faced its first substantive controversy in its handling of the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon during the July 2006 conflict in that country. Within a year, another controversy was spurred by the passport requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (in force since 2007). Upon applying for their passports, some people discovered that their Canadian citizenship was in doubt. Both cases raised similar questions in public debate and policy: what constitutes a Canadian citizen, what role do factors surrounding one’s birth and kinship ties have on one’s claim to citizenship and what obligations or attachments does a person have to undertake in order to be a citizen? But the cases also exposed differing responses towards the Canadians evacuated from Lebanon and the ‘Lost Canadians’ that reflect a racialized and ethnicized hierarchy of Canadian citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article, based on a study carried out in Manchester between 2005 and 2008, contrasts two approaches toward national identity construction expressed by two distinct groups of Polish migrants to the UK; one leads to a strong modern national identity and the other produces a more recent postmodern identity. In both cases, I highlight the constant reproduction of national identity in everyday life and the distinct spatial contexts within which this takes place, and further discuss how national identity has evolved from a primarily collective experience to an individual one, along with the consequences of this transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As well as prompting an urgent reassessment of constitutional and legislative matters, processes of devolution have also contributed to a series of wide-ranging debates on identity in Britain. Yet, outside of survey data and a growing body of work looking to assess the status of minorities in Britain, relatively little has been heard from the wider population. This is particularly true for those who constitute the majority group within Britain, the English. In this paper, I want to offer a complementary perspective by using data from qualitative interviews to explore the ways in which members of the ‘ethnic majority’ in England discuss these issues. The findings suggest a tentative, but noticeable, shift towards an English identity, which is often defined as a necessary response to the increasing assertiveness of ‘other’ national groups within Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]