Europeanisation, National Identities and Migration ... - europeanization

10 Anna Triandafyllidou and Willfried Spohn
Western European community and at the same time to be protected and shielded
against renewed threats from the East, Russia and Asia. This is the general
motivational basis for the wish to become, as soon as possible, member states of the
European Union. In cultural terms, the West, not only Western Europe, but also
America represents a model to be emulated as a direction for societal, economic and
political progress. At the same time, it is also a model to defend oneself from, because
it is more powerful, expansive and undermining of traditional cultures, lifestyles,
values and identities. Again, these cultural re-definitions of collective identities
depend on the geopolitical location within the European space. In this volume,
we seek to cast light on these processes through the study of the Hungarian, Polish
and Russian cases. Hungary presents an important challenge because of its imperial
historical experience and the current division of the Hungarian nation into
one mother country and many diasporic communities, to be segregated in the
near future by the Schengen border zone (see the chapter by Tóth and Sik in this
volume). Poland plays a pivotal role in its location between the united Germany and
its historical imperial neighbours from Lithuania to the Ukraine (see the chapters
by Marody and Spohn in this volume), while Russia and its self-definitions towards
its neighbouring Others sets a symbolic and geopolitical borderline between Europe
and Asia (see the chapter by Stölting in this volume). Moreover, in the aftermath of
11 September, the representation of Russia by itself and other countries as part
of ‘the West’ has acquired new emphasis. Its role as the symbolic and geopolitical
border between ‘the West’ and ‘the Islamic world’ – where either are seen as
homogenous and compact – has been cast with renewed emphasis. Other interesting
examples of social and territorial boundary (re-)constructions are the Baltic countries
between northern Europe and Russia and the Balkan countries and Turkey in the
southeastern corner of the European continent.
Immigrants as Others
Within the overall process of European integration and Eastern enlargement
and the related reconfiguration of national and European identities, immigration
remains a largely unsettled issue. It is our aim in this book to highlight the
ingroup–outgroup dynamics that condition the relationship between the nation
and the immigrant(s) both in general and with particular reference to the process
of European integration. ‘Othering’ the immigrant is functional to the development
of national identity and to achieving or enhancing national cohesion. The
immigrant is a potential threatening Other because s/he crosses the national
boundaries challenging, thus, the ingroup identification with a specific culture,
territory or ethnic origin as well as the overall categorisation of people into nationals
and others. In other words, the immigrant poses a challenge to the ingroup’s
presumed unity and authenticity, which it threatens to ‘contaminate’.
Most European countries conceive of themselves as national states, where the
state is the political expression of the dominant nation. This idea implies a static view
of culture and ethnic descent: these are seen as homogeneous and unique. The
presumed purity and authenticity has to be protected from the intrusions of