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This article investigates the determinants of individual support for independence in Montenegro. We outline five theoretically distinct groups of factors covered by the literature and evaluate their impact on individual preference for independence. Using observational data obtained from a nationally representative survey conducted in Montenegro in 2003–2004, we find support for several hypotheses, showing that identity, income, and partisanship significantly impact individual opinion about independence. We also investigate and discuss the relative effect size of different factors associated with preference for independence. Additionally, we test variables with hitherto unexplored implications for opinions on independence, including the impact of support for EU membership, as well as support for democratic principles. Our logistic regression analyses reveal that attitudes towards EU integration and minority rights are strongly associated with support for independence. By systematically analyzing existing and new hypotheses with data from an understudied case, our findings contribute to the nascent literature on individual preferences for independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accession of the 'A8 states' into the European Union initiated considerable migration into Western Europe. The impact upon local communities has seen significant attention, yet little research exists that focuses upon migrant experiences and identity specifically in sport. This study used a figurational framework to investigate the lived experiences of basketball among male Lithuanian migrants in the rural east of England. Semistructured interviews highlighted participants' motivations to migrate, their acculturation experiences and the role that basketball played during their sojourn. Participants considered basketball a significant means for the expression of national identity and as a focus for their resistance to local racializing processes. Conversely, conflict with established local basketball communities and perceptions of marginalization among migrants were common, creating divisions in local basketball competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cornerstones of EU citizenship are the right of free movement and the right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality. In this article, I choose three categories and test either the overlap between EU citizenship status and practice (Eurostars) or the mismatch between the two ('perceived as Roma EU citizens' and EEA-non-EU citizens – Norwegians in this case). I use a performative citizenship approach and, based on 51 interviews with free movers, I analyse how their free movement acts extend and challenge EU citizenship. I argue that the differentiated practice of free movement creates different gears of EU citizenship and, thus, an internally differentiated membership as well as a quasi-EU citizenship outside the formal status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity is a sense of belonging that helps people understand and categorize the world around them. Through their identity, people define their connection to the outside world. The process of creating an identity is much more complex in modern European society. Identity has always been a reaction to certain types of pressure from the environment. It is important to understand that the idea of Europe is currently going through a process of transition. As part of this transition, the conflict between national and post-national identities can be highlighted. The transition to European politics and society caused by the process of European integration poses a challenge to the traditional basis of national identity. In fact, the very value of national identity is being questioned. This challenge stems from the growing awareness that the ideal of a cohesive people, on which identity is based, has never existed. Increasingly, however, debates are focusing on the growing pluralism, diversity and multiculturalism of the idea of Europe. One of the conclusions of these discourses is that instead of focusing on unity and equality, the only sustainable form of European identity is one that recognizes and respects diversity and difference. Recognition of European identity is just a layer / concentric circle in a much more complex whole that can lead to the development of a sense of Europeanism and that enables inclusion and participation. European identity as a new form of political identity is nothing but a set of national identities of the member states of the European Union, which allows each member state, despite the acceptance of the European identity with the membership in the Union, to further preserve and nurture the elements of its national identity, elements that make each nation its own and special but also different from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of Europeanisation initiated in Turkey following the 1999 Helsinki summit witnessed a loosening of state control over the Patriarchate of Constantinople under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In parallel with the AKP's reforms geared towards EU membership, the Patriarchate's activities became more transnational in their character, especially with regards to its organisation and influence over religious affairs within the Christian world. This contribution traces change and continuity in Turkish policy towards the Patriarchate under the AKP government. Key differences between the AKP government's stance on the Patriarchate and those of its predecessors are noted, with specific reference to prospects of EU membership and the strategy that has been devised by the AKP to that end. Specifically, the contribution shows that Turkey's bid to join the EU initially presented important leverage over Turkey, allowing the Patriarchate to reassert its transnational character. However, diminished prospects of EU membership together with a gradual return of nationalist sentiment now present an important challenge for the Patriarchate in its efforts to maintain transnational character and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What marked the Croatia's history from the 1990s to the beginning of the 21st century was its accession to the EU after long and difficult six-year membership negotiations (2005-2011). It was the only state from the Western Balkans region that so far had succeeded alone and not in a group in joining the Union as its 28th member on July 1, 2013. Unlike Slovenia, Croatia lagged dramatically in the 1990s, possessed by a strong nationalism, hostile to the very idea of a united Europe. Only when the nationalistic Croatian Democratic Union lost power in 2000, the foreign policy of the country became pro-European and pro-Nato. But Croatia faced many difficulties on its road to EU. It had to solve its border issues with Slovenia. The cooperation with the Hague tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia was also very painful for the Croats. The country officially entered the Union in 2013 but that happened in a moment when Europe was in a deep economic crisis and it had no chance to gain seezable economic benefits from its membership. So, the Euroscepticism became quite popular among Croats soon after their country became part of the huge European community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the socially divisive consequences of the UK's 2016 referendum on membership in the European Union. Rather than redressing the country's long-standing class divisions, the referendum has exacerbated them by fuelling negative stereotypes and mutual accusations between Leave and Remain supporters. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity, the article argues that support for Leave and Remain is structured by circulations of affect, fantasies of the good life and psychic investments in different experiences of immigration, nationalism, and social and economic inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enlargement of 2004 and 2007 significantly transformed the European Union in political, economic, and social terms. It also challenged the collective identities of Western Europeans as well as each of the newcomers. However, for new members, the prospect of joining a supranational political entity posed a threat to their newly established or regained sovereignty and nationhood. The integration triggered a process of redefinition of both their self-perception and the perception of Europe as a common project. The article offers a case study of how the Polish Members of the European Parliament discursively (re)construct national and European identities and how these constructions relate to each other. The analysis reveals three main visions of the European identity that are voiced by the Polish representation and corresponding visions of national identity. By focusing on the supranational level of the European Parliament and contextualising the analysed constructions with references to national debates, the study is able to nuance the existing theoretical accounts of European and national identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the current problems of the integration in the EU in the context of the ongoing restructuring of the global economy and its institutional order under the pressure of rising economic nationalism and protectionism. The differentiated integration conducted in EMU outlines the challenges for Bulgaria from the integration at "two speeds" in the EU. The problems of overcoming the crisis of the current EU integration model are being considered in the context of the ongoing reforms. By revealing the main trends in the world economy the paper discusses the impact of global changes on the European integration. The difficulties in reforming the completion of the Economic and Monetary Union are evaluated as a bottleneck to the further enlargement of the EMU. The opportunities and perspectives of Bulgaria's inclusion in the EMU are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Bulgaria's integration into the European Union (EU) in 2007 and the factors associated with the country's geography. It mentions an etymological account of the word "Balkan" presented by Maria Todorova; two classics of Balkan literature, Dobri Voinikov's The Misunderstood Civilization and Aleko Konstantinov's Bai Ganyo; and the foundation of Bulgarian national identity and its Europeanness at the end of the 19th century.

This article seeks to explain the varied policy responses to the large wave of emigration from Central and Eastern European states during the last two decades, focusing on the cases of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Differing degrees of emigrant engagement by these states are explained by the role of internal minorities as active members of the emigrant population and the overall political and demographic relevance of historical kin. This study contributes to our understanding of what shapes state policies towards different types of external populations. It also highlights the particular challenges of state-led transnational engagement in a supranational border regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to demonstrate how the myth of Troy is still relevant to modern-day European culture and identity, drawing on Gregor Feindt et al.'s concept of 'entangled memory' as a theoretical foundation. In order to support this claim, it discusses Wolfgang Petersen's movie Troy(2004), the successful exhibition Troy-Dream and Realitythat opened in Germany in 2001; the heated debate sparked by this exhibition among German scholars; and the political discussion about Turkey's unsuccessful application for membership in the European Union, in which references to Troy played a surprising role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the legitimacy of the EU’s external borders and the decision-making rules for changing them. First, while the EU should not indefinitely expand, we can identify no normative grounds for precluding in advance any liberal democratic nation-states from participation in the European project. Second, for those countries having more or less thick legal ties with the EU, or who are otherwise substantially affected by European decision-making, we argue for the institutionalisation of flexible deliberative communities. For closely associated countries, we argue that the EU has special duties in opening the door to membership. Third, we address the legitimacy of the EU’s decision-making procedures for deciding on accession candidates and creating association agreements with non-member states. Here we defend the EU’s current unanimity requirement for the former and its supermajoritarian decision rules for the latter. Finally, we suggest that nationalism is the primary obstacle to the achievement of just inclusion outcomes for non-member states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research on European identity focuses mainly on majority populations in Western European countries without differentiating among specific population groups and generations, and, above all, disregarding ethnic minority groups living in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the development of European identity among three ethnic minority groups in Lithuania: Belarusians, Poles, and Russians. Theoretically, the project is based on the instrumental approach, which argues that European identity is closely related to perceived benefits from “being European,” and on the cultural approach, which holds a common history, ancestry, and culture responsible for the development of European identity. Existing research has, above all, emphasized the importance of instrumental considerations. Analyzing qualitative interviews collected in the FP7 research project “ENRI-East,” the paper compares how young and adult members of ethnic minority groups construct European identity due to “instrumental” and “cultural” considerations. The results show that both instrumental and cultural considerations are relevant and further development of European identity depends on which age group or ethnic minority group an individual belongs to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper divulges a comparison between the Bulgarian elites, elites in the new democracies and in the old democracies of the European Union and succeeds in interrelating them by using common assumptions, concepts and original and comprehensive empirical data. It shows that the European Union (EU) has been a forerunner and active proponent of the process of integration of Bulgaria in the recent decades and that the EU has played a significant role in mitigating its impact. The analysis on elites' Europeanness is backed-up by an extensive dataset revealing its constantly adapting nature; its diversity of practices; its repeated need to respond to exogenous challenges and, most importantly, its perpetually unsatisfactory quest to make "real existing democracy" conform better to "potentially ideal democracy." The Bulgarian elites' Europeanness is expressed in a high display of trust toward European institutions. However, their trust to national ones is significantly lower. The explanations for these diversities are looked for in the continuity of historical experiences of trust to the state and its institutions, the short period of European Union membership, the discontinuity during the hard economic transformation and the deep social differences in society since the transition has begun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of European integration has traditionally focused on organisational growth: the deepening and widening of the European Union (EU). By contrast, this article analyses organisational differentiation, a process in which states refuse, or are being refused, full integration but find value in establishing in-between grades of membership. It describes how the EU's system of graded membership has developed, and it explains the positioning of states in this system. The core countries of the EU set a standard of 'good governance'. The closer European countries are to this standard, the closer their membership grade is to the core. Some countries fall short of this standard and are refused further integration by the core: their membership grade increases with better governance. Other countries refuse further integration because they outperform the standards of the core countries: their membership grade decreases as governance improves. These conjectures are corroborated in a panel analysis of European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past years have been eventful for secessionist movements in Europe and in particular in Scotland and Catalonia. Supporters and opponents of secession of both stateless nations considered their prospects for future EU membership as an important part of the campaigns leading to the referendums. The article’s aim is to explore whether international factors influence domestic support for secession. In order to answer this puzzle, an on-line survey experiment (n= 2408) was carried out in Catalonia and Scotland in which respondents were confronted with different scenarios concerning the EU membership of their hypothetical new state (inclusion or exclusion). Contrary to the general perception, the prospects of EU membership had only a limited effect on support for the creation of a sovereign state. Moreover, it was found that the impact was strongly mediated by the participants’ previous degree of nationalism and their attitudes with respect to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Democratization, economic transformation, and EU accession have shaped the Bulgarian and Romanian party systems in ways similar to that seen across the rest of eastern Europe. A quarter century after democratization, the party systems remain unstable. The article demonstrates that nationalism and ethnic identity provide stable voter salience in party systems that remain dominated by fragmentation, personalistic political parties, and a lack of issue differentiation. An analysis of the use of ethnonationalism by political elites in Bulgaria is contrasted with a briefer analysis of Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An influential contingent of Catholic clergy in Poland reacted to Poland’s entry into the European Union by developing a narrative positing the Catholic foundation and ownership of Europe and all its constituent “nations.” This narrative, which I call national-European theology, identifies the Catholic Church as the progenitor of both European and Polish existence and guarantor of their continuity of identity. In this way, it remedies some Catholics’ anxieties about both the integrity of Poland’s national sovereignty and the allegedly secularizing and liberalizing cultural influence of other EU member countries. I argue that national-European theology can be fruitfully conceived as a hereditary ownership narrative, framed by moments of spiritual foundation and subsequent inheritance from spiritual founders, and that this narrative structure characterizes both nationalism writ large and Europeanization as an analogous modern identitarian project. I suggest that taking heredity as a lens through which to understand nationalism and its attendant notions of legitimation allows us to move past debates about the “content” of nationalist claims (ethnic, religious, linguistic, etc.) and toward the mechanism by which group reproduction is culturally defined and sanctioned. To do this, I first sketch a theory of nationalism as a hereditary ownership narrative, drawing upon the Polish case, and liken it to the “Europe-building” project of the EU. Second, I present a brief historical outline of Poland’s accession to the EU and the anxieties generated thereby. Finally, I turn to the rhetoric of the Polish clergy who best represent the national-European current in contemporary Catholic political theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses public opinion on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in Germany and Poland in the context of the EU policy responses to it, utilising the concept of “strategic culture”. Seeing Russia as a military threat and attributing the main blame for the conflict to it makes people in both countries more likely to support Ukraine. However, it does not explain all the differences between the supporters and opponents of aiding Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the crisis being faced by the European Union (EU) and discusses whether it is realistic to return to nation states with closed borders and whether the Europeans want such an outcome. Topics discussed include the Great Britain referendum on continued EU membership, the findings of a study which suggest people are supportive of the idea of a united Europe, and previous forecasts done on the spread of European identity.

In the 1975 referendum England provided the strongest support for European integration, with a much smaller margin for membership in Scotland and Northern Ireland. By 2015 the rank order of 'national' attitudes to European integration had reversed. Now, England is the UK's most eurosceptic nation and may vote 'Leave', while Scotland seems set to generate a clear margin for 'Remain'. The UK as a whole is a Brexit marginal. To understand the campaign, we need to make sense of the dynamics of public attitudes in each nation. We take an 'archaeological' approach to a limited evidence-base, to trace the development of attitudes to Europe in England since 1975. We find evidence of a link between English nationalism and euroscepticism. Whatever the result in 2016, contrasting outcomes in England and Scotland will exacerbate tensions in the UK's territorial constitution and could lead to the break-up of Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the judicial understanding of constitutional identity with the analysis of methods of nonjudicial neutralization of identity-related conflicts. It mentions that national interests underpinning the nonparticipation of certain Member States of the European Union (EU) in enhanced cooperation agreements. It mentions that empirical evidence shows that differentiated integration and flexibility with interpretation of Article 4(2) of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU).

The war in Libya of 2011 is generally portrayed as yet more evidence of the European Union (EU)'s inability to formulate a coordinated foreign policy. While the crisis took place in the EU's backyard, joint foreign policy action was hindered by member states' disagreements on whether or not to establish a no-fly zone in Libya. While this is true of political decision-makers, this paper investigates whether governmental decisions were reflected in similar divisions in national news media or whether references to European identity and criticism of European disunity transcended national media boundaries. Comparing a total of 6746 newspaper articles from Germany, France, the UK, Austria and the USA, the findings show that intergovernmental differences did not lead to similarly divided public spheres. Public debates in France, Germany and Austria constantly referred to a European foreign policy identity, though EU identity references were largely absent from UK newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Collected Papers of the Law Faculty of the University of Rijeka / Zbornik Pravnog Fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci is the property of Pravni fakultet Sveucilista u Rijeci and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The ever-expanding European Union (EU) presents the potential member states (PMs) with a difficult choice: adopt its values to join the EU or miss out on the benefits that come with the membership. From the perspective of the EU, a state's decision to join depends on the democratic and voluntary will of its people. However, from the perspective of potential member states, the EU's "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude might be seen as the root of an unjust dilemma. On the one hand, joining the EU promotes increased wealth and redistribution, particularly in the case of less-developed eastern states. On the other hand, joining demands the future member states to sacrifice certain aspects of their culture. This dilemma largely rests on the EU's unwillingness to fairly negotiate with PMs. In practice, member states must often weigh socio-economic benefits against the loss of the state's national culture(s). While Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland are strong enough economically to avoid this dilemma, less powerful PMs face a tougher choice. This paper primarily aims to explain the nature and extent of the dilemma within Europe. This is followed by a discussion of three normative positions one can take on the matter, namely accept, compensate for, or minimize the dilemma. It is suggested that while the EU enlargement has so far largely combined the first two approaches, there may be benefits to minimizing the dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the decisive impact of Romania's Balkan heritage on its current position in the EU. Our study aims at proving that Romania's present status among the EU countries is not only a matter of perception from the outside, but also a matter of self - perception, both being shaped by the stereotypes pertaining to the concept of 'Balkanism'. Historically torn between the East and the West, the central and the liminal, the local and the global, the Balkan area has fostered a unique awareness of national identity, supported by a suspicious and defensive attitude towards the 'outside' and totally incongruent with the idea of integration. During the past years, the tension between its Balkan heritage and the integrative EU policies has generated a sense of identity crisis, due to which the Romanians find themselves "concomitantly inside and outside, actors in and audience at a play; owing to this ambiguity, they neither perform, nor watch very well"[1] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of Turkish disabled veterans' organizations in a nationalist campaign against Turkey's potential membership in the organization the European Union (EU). The author discusses the significance of gender, particularly the tension between the nationalism of veterans' organizations and the experiences of lower-class disabled men, and the connection between what the author terms the political rites of consecration and rites of desecration. It also discusses compulsory military service in Turkey, masculinity, and the honorific known as ghazi.

The aim of this article is to present a selection of primary findings culled from empirical data collected in Dublin with post-European Union enlargement Polish migrants as the cohort in study. One aspect of the project was to investigate how that group interpreted home since they have left Poland. Based on the outcomes of interviews with thirty-one informants, the narratives reveal a group of individuals who continuously contest social constraints and push the boundaries of previously held notions of migration, identity, and home. This article situates their aspirations, preferences, and practices within discourses of transnationalism, thereby connecting their migration experiences with a consciousness of feeling at home in the world. This article breaks up "home" as interpreted by the informants into three categories-centered home, sentimental home, and transportable home. The wide range of perspectives held by informants and the inability to clearly define their position with regard to the notion of "home" reinforces the hypothesis of this article that, for a transnational cohort, the meaning of home is contested. In relation to the wider international literature regarding concepts of home, this article makes a contribution to the deepening scope of migration research in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiation has become a salient feature of European integration. Yet systematic empirical evidence is lacking about its origins, duration and variation across countries and policies. This article provides such evidence from a new data set on differentiation in European Union treaty law. In addition, it is argued that two logics of treaty-based differentiation are at work. 'Instrumental differentiation' originates in enlargement and is motivated by efficiency and distributional concerns. 'Constitutional differentiation' has its origins in treaty revisions and is motivated by concerns about national sovereignty and identity. It is driven by Eurosceptic Member States that are opposed ideologically, or fear popular resistance, to the supranational centralization of core state powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a poststructuralist theorising of identity in international relations, which argues that identity is relationally and discursively constructed through foreign policy, this article attempts to analyse the way in which the European Commission discursively constructs European identit(ies) in its relations with Turkey around the theme of ‘security’. The study utilises the methodological tools of critical discourse analysis in analysing the speeches and field interviews conducted with European Commission officials, in examining the way in which they construct ‘Europe’ in relation to the security implications of Turkish accession. The article’s findings challenge the argument that Europe is moving beyond the modern state to resemble a postmodern order, and problematises the designation of the Commission as a ‘cosmopolitan’ actor in EU enlargement policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Journal of Sociology / Sosyoloji Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Sociology / Sosyoloji Dergisi is the property of Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper negotiates ideas, views and beliefs of Bulgarians towards the ethnic minorities of their country published in the Bulgarian press during the period of 2005–2009. Through these aspects it becomes clear that three years after Bulgaria's accession to the European Union and despite various state attempts to integrate minorities – mostly initiated and funded by the EU and various governmental and non-governmental organizations – prejudice and racism have not been overcome, the Other is still differentiated and the way to multiculturalism is very long. The research field is limited to the Turkish and the Roma minorities, which are “visible” in the sense that they are officially recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since Turkey's application for membership of the European Union (EU) in 1987, the EU has itself been a structural component of Turkey's political transformation. The European impact intensified after Turkey was granted the status of an official candidate at the EU's Helsinki Summit in 1999. Since then, Turkey has issued a series of reform packages with the aim of starting accession negotiations, which began in October 2005. These reforms have initiated a democratic regime that is structurally different from its predecessors in terms of its definition of political community, national identity and the territorial structure of the state. Among many other aspects of the current political transformation such as the resolution of the Kurdish problem and administrative reform, this article concentrates on how the European impact, which I label Europeanisation, has influenced state-religion relations in Turkey. Europeanisation has three major mechanisms that influence actors, institutions, ideas and interests in varying ways: institutional compliance, changing opportunity structures, and the framing of domestic beliefs and expectations. The article concentrates on how these mechanisms operate in the creation of a new regulatory framework of religion in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the ways in which Euro-Turks affiliate themselves both with their countries of destination in the European Union and with their country of origin, Turkey. Using the institutional channelling theory, this study claims that Euro-Turks are more likely to comply with the political, economic, legal and cultural structure of their countries of settlement. The study also claims that Euro-Turks have recently become actively engaged in political participation processes at a time defined by rising Islamophobia. However, official lobbying activities of the Turkish state among Euro-Turks are likely to be more destructive than constructive in the way in which they make the Euro-Turks compete with each other on ideological grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite scholarly interest in the process of Turkey's candidacy for European Union (EU) membership, what is missing in the literature is a detailed examination of Turkish public opinion on the issue. Using Turkish Election Surveys, Eurobarometer surveys and International Social Survey Programme data, we test whether economic considerations, support for democracy, attachment to national identity and religiosity affect Turkish individuals' attitudes towards Turkey's EU membership. Perceived national economic conditions and national identity have a negative impact while satisfaction with democracy is positively linked to support for EU membership. Contrary to expectations, religion exerts no significant influence over membership preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we research the main discourses in Germany and Turkey on Turkish accession to the European Union. As we argue, these discourses may easily affect the current accession negotiations, through statements made by national political leaders. We identify three distinct discourses in Germany (multiculturalism, European consolidation and cultural incompatibility) and three in Turkey (Euro-optimism, pacta sunt servanda and Turkish pride and independence). Most of the discourses we found, in both Germany and Turkey, are incompatible with Turkish accession and will make Turkish accession a tough call. Even if further enlargement has significant economic benefits, emotional arguments appear to play an important role in setting the pace of European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores what conditions or what specific issues lead to shifts in the positioning of the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetci Hareket Partisi, MHP) towards Turkey's European Union (EU) membership goal. The article first examines the MHP's background and characteristics and compares it with similar parties in Western Europe. Subsequently, the MHP's EU stance during 1999-2002 and in the post-2002 period is discussed. The article concludes that ideology matters for the MHP but that shifts in degrees of Euroscepticisim during particular periods can be explained by strategic considerations of the MHP, which respond to the party's electoral gains or losses, its position in the party political spectrum and whether it is in government, in opposition or outside parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union in general and the European Commission in particular are characterised by supranational governance. The enlargement policy gives the Commission the opportunity to export and promote supranational norms and define the boundaries of Europe as a supranational polity through the conditionality of membership and intensive contact with the candidate countries. This article analyses the discourses of the Commission on Turkey and gives us insights into how well Turkey fits the supranational model in the eyes of Commission officials. It demonstrates how the boundaries of supranationalism are set and even challenged by the prospects of Turkey's accession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have identified stateless nationalist and regionalist parties (SNRPs) as ardent supporters of Europe. This support has been explained as a result of positive developments in supranational integration that convinced these actors that Europe could facilitate the achievement of their territorial demands. Other work, however, leads to an expectation that SNRPs that mobilise within island regions that are geographically distant from the European centre of power (Brussels) will adopt more Eurosceptic positions. This article aims to test these competing hypotheses about the positioning of SNRPs on Europe. It does so by examining the attitudes of SNRPs in two island regions in the Mediterranean: Corsica and Sardinia. The findings suggest that SNRPs in both places cannot be adequately categorised as either Europhile or Eurosceptic. The article examines the role of several context- and actor-specific factors in shaping the complex positioning of island nationalists in Corsica and Sardinia on the issue of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although nationalists and Islamists are different groups and have different organizational structures, Islamic groups used to take nationalist stances on major political issues. However, the Islamic actors' policies of the 2000s have all but put paid to the historical harmony with nationalism. The Islamic bloc, having abandoned nationalism, emerged as an advocate of antinationalist policies. Inspired by Stathis N. Kalyvas, it is argued that the Islamic elites' strategy to avert the seculars' attacks of the late 1990s initiated a path-dependent course that in the end separated them from nationalism. Their new strategy denationalized the Islamic groups, yet its direct intention was to protect themselves against the seculars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the politics and history of Cyprus, focusing on its division between Turkish Cypriots in the North and Greek Cypriots in the South. It comments on the attempted coup d’état in 1974 that aimed to overthrow the government and annex Cyprus to Greece, and the subsequent invasion by Turkish forces. The author reflects on Cyprus' European Union (EU) membership and Turkey's prospects for EU membership. Other topics include international mediation, the prospect of reunification, and the influence of nationalism.

Recent studies have shown that the most important factor explaining opinions on European Union issues is attitudes towards immigrants. Two arguments are given to explain this effect. We contend that these arguments are both built on the idea that people with anti-immigrant attitudes frame other Europeans as an out-group. We then test the validity of these arguments by measuring how respondents in a voter survey frame the issue of Turkish membership. We find that framing the issue in terms of out-groups indeed mediates the effect of anti-immigrant attitudes on support for Turkish membership. This finding offers new insights into why levels of public support vary over different EU issues, because opposition is likely to increase when an issue is more easily framed in terms of out-groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the issue of early preferences of national political parties in the EU regarding Turkey's accession. Two main hypotheses are proposed. First, national moderate parties contribute mainly to the de facto transformation of the accession in an 'open' process by developing volatile attitudes. Second, in the case of moderate parties, volatile attitudes and concrete political discourses on Turkey's accession are mainly determined by explanatory factors other than ideology (structural and strategic factors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of two historic events on the Greek national identity: Greece's membership in the European Union in 1981 and the end of the Iron Curtain with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The author argues that it it yet too early to fully comprehend the extent of these events for Greece and how it defines itself nationally in relation to Europe and to the Balkans. The author viewpoint is mainly based on an analysis of the way immigrants, especially from the Balkans, are being treated as their growing numbers are perceived by some Greeks as a threat to the purity of the Greek national identity. Recent changes to the naturalization laws in Greece, Greece's foreign policy in the Balkans, and the strengthening of the Greek Diaspora are also discussed.

The article reports on a March 2010 convention held in Thuringia, Germany, and titled "The European Prospects of the Balkans." Specific focus was on the Balkan states' internal civil development in certain areas and their prospects for admission as members to the European Union (EU). Presentations addressed such topics as the consolidation of democracy in the Balkans, the situation in the Moldavian Republic, and linguistic nationalism.

The article examines politics and government in Croatia related to that country's candidacy for membership in the European Union. While Croatia has met many of the economic and public finance requirements for membership, it is still under pressure from the EU to cooperate in the arrest and prosecution of suspected Croatian war criminals from the wars related to the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Croatian political opinion on EU membership is seen as falling into two major camps, those who support EU membership as necessary for Croatia's economic viability and those who reject on nationalist and religious grounds. Those who support EU membership but are skeptical of some of the policies and the structure of the EU are discussed in terms of overall opinion towards the EU in Europe.

Sovereignty is at the core of the UK's chronically contentious relationship with, and within, the European Union (EU). In order for EU membership to be an expression rather than an erosion of British sovereignty governments must influence the direction of European policy and the level of UK involvement. Labour has, it is argued, established an effective accommodation between continued membership of the European Union and British parliamentary sovereignty understood as the continued efficacy of executive power. Nevertheless, this policy has lacked a wider legitimacy and in key respects Euroscepticism has been reasserted by the Labour leadership. Consequently, when viewed from the perspective of popular sovereignty, the nation and the people, the UK's relationship to the European Union remains highly contested and unresolved. It is this aspect of sovereignty that is central to the Conservative Party's continued Euroscepticism. In the political mainstream, it is argued that Eurosceptic Britishness has become politically dominant however this is complicated by the UK's multi-nationalism and the rise of pro-Europeanism in separatist and regional politics. Alongside this it is proposed that British conceptions of economic sovereignty are in flux following economic crisis, contributing to an overall uncertainty in the UK's European trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]