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This study examined social identity development on the national and European domain using the three-dimensional identity status model. We took a person-centered approach to identify identity statuses and to study stability and change of identity statuses across one year within two longitudinal samples of young people aged 15 to 26 (MT1 = 19.81, SDT1 = 3.22) from Germany (n = 1028) and Czech Republic (n = 1342). Latent profile analyses of questionnaire-based data showed evidence for four identity statuses for the national and European domain (i.e., diffusion, moratorium, closure, and achievement). The statuses differed substantially in terms of civic engagement, nationalism, and views toward the EU. Stability of identity statuses was moderate to high across domains and countries with little evidence for systematic transitions over time. Overall, identity patterns were very similar across domains and countries. However, congruence between the national and the European identity domain was substantially lower in Czech Republic than in Germany, suggesting that both identities are more aligned in the latter country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines perceptions of Germany in Ireland during the Euro crisis. It explores debates about a "normalization" of Germany's role in Europe and its European identity, calling for a focus on external perceptions of Germany as key to understanding the extent to which Germany is viewed as "normal" from the outside. Through a presentation of findings from qualitative analysis of political speeches and newspaper articles, it shows that perceptions of Germany are filtered through discourses on Irish national identity that place Irish economic interests and national sovereignty at the heart of Irish engagement in the EU. Whereas Irish leaders argue in favor of further integration as a means to regain economic sovereignty, opposition actors and the conservative press see Germany as exercising economic control of Europe. The Irish case demonstrates that Germany's past continues to shape the way in which its leadership in Europe is perceived from the outside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the determinants of people’s support for European institutions, mainly focusing on the impact of European identity, after the economic crisis and in a moment in which – after profound uncertainty for its immediate future – there is a new feeling toward European integration. Previous research on support for European institutions, before the economic and financial crisis which had hit Europe since 2008, found that people’s evaluations followed mainly an instrumental logic – support being contingent on a perception of personal or national benefit accruing for EU membership – with an additional role played by European identification. This contribution expands the analysis after the beginning of the economic crisis, so to assess whether the former has affected the structure of such support, and deepens the analysis of the impact of EU identity on European institutional confidence. Using a recent Eurobarometer survey (86.2, 2016) and combining both individual and contextual data, the paper shows that European identity plays a crucial role in explaining European support also after the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friedrich Nietzsche's later philosophical writings have rarely been examined in the context of the political culture that marks late nineteenth-century Germany. But once we accept the inherently political nature of these writings, a purely philosophical interpretation seems limited. This article explores the way in which Nietzsche's understanding of a possible European identity is embedded in his reaction to the political culture of Imperial Germany. It is against this background that Nietzsche begins to form an idea of Europe as an alternative to the status quo of contemporary political culture, but at the same time his vision of Europe remains too vague to constitute a real political alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article serves as an introduction to this special issue as well as a self-standing contribution. Using the lens of technology, we situate European integration (typically viewed as a political process) as an emergent outcome of a process of linking and delinking of infrastructures, as well as the circulation and appropriation of artefacts, systems and knowledge. These processes carried, shaped, flagged, and helped to maintain a sense of Europeanness, bringing out tensions in Europe and tensions about Europe. We call this ‘hidden integration.’ Yet the story of integration does not point to a seamless and inevitable process, a grand project with a set agenda. Instead it was a contested process throughout the 20th century leading to fragmentation as well as to integration. Our approach is contrasted with standard interpretations of European integration that treat European integration as an episode in international relations between nation-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]