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National identity and democracy: Effects of non-voluntarism on formal democracy
[journal article]
Abstract In this article, I explore whether, and if so how, national identity affects the level of formal democracy in a country. I theorize and then investigate four assumptions: (i) classical nationalist stances hold that national membership depends on the accident of origin and cultural markers learned by... view more
In this article, I explore whether, and if so how, national identity affects the level of formal democracy in a country. I theorize and then investigate four assumptions: (i) classical nationalist stances hold that national membership depends on the accident of origin and cultural markers learned by early socialization. This non-voluntary identity gives human beings a natural sense of belonging in society and fosters solidarity and trust that lead to better democracy; (ii) drawing on ideas about core values of ideal democracy the non-voluntarist national identity exhibits an inherent contradiction between in-group bias and intrinsic equality, which leads to lower levels of democracy; (iii) homogeneity in belief about what constitutes national belonging eases the dynamics between majority and minority, which benefits democracy; (iv) the presence of an in-group identity, understood as a shared fellow-feeling, boosts trust and solidarity and thereby benefits democracy. Individual-level data about national identity comes from International Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 2013). Data about democracy comes from Varieties of Democracy (Coppedge et al., 2021; Pemstein et al., 2021). Results indicate that higher levels of non-voluntarist features of national identity are strongly negatively correlated with levels of democracy and heterogeneity in beliefs about what constitutes national belonging relating to a higher level of liberal democracy.... view less
Keywords
ISSP; democracy; democratization; national identity; nationalism; nationality
Classification
Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Political Science
Free Keywords
sociology of nationalism; theories of nationalism, V-Dem; International Social Survey Programme: National Identity I - ISSP 1995 (ZA2880 v1.0.0); International Social Survey Programme: National Identity II - ISSP 2003 (ZA3910 v2.1.0); International Social Survey Programme: National Identity III - ISSP 2013 (ZA5950)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 501-522
Journal
Nations and Nationalism, 28 (2022) 2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12766
ISSN
1469-8129
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed