Representation of the Rütlischwur, the historic oath of the Old Swiss Confederacy, on a cabinet from Teufen, Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, around 1782. Photo: Swiss National Museum

Supranational belonging

National identity understood in this form is entirely humanistic. The sense of belonging is not bound to the unchanging and immutable. It is not origins, religion or ethnicity, but narratives that define national identity – narratives that can be internalised regardless of the individual’s background. Even supranational institutions such as the European Union should not be afraid of national identities, values and symbols. In this context, it is worth remembering Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities or Gérard Bouchard’s Mythes sociaux et imaginaires collectifs. Narrative representations would also be helpful for the European Union. The purely pecuniary undertakings of the Europoliticians are no substitute; the repeated exhortations to solidarity even less. The Jacques Delors Institute in Paris recognised this and commissioned historian and sociologist Gérard Bouchard to carry out the study ‘Europe in Search of Europeans’. Bouchard’s diagnosis indicates, apart from making a lot of economic sense, that Europe lacks a cultural dimension of its own. The EU must discover its own elements in order to consolidate its shared identity. Within the community, the social human needs the putty and cement of collective identity.

Andreas Spillmann

National identities