Europeanisation, National Identities and Migration ... - europeanization

3 Enduring nations and
the illusions of European
integration
John Hutchinson
Introduction
By the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) the nation-states of the European Community
bound themselves to a Union that reaches into many of the core functions of the
nation-state: control of borders and territory, the policing of citizens and immigration,
currency and taxation, management of the economy, and foreign policy
and defence (Wallace 1997: 33). The nation-state was born in Europe and became
through European imperial expansion the global norm. Is Europe now pioneering
a new political form, embodying the principle of multiple sovereignties, that will
supersede the nation-state and fit humanity for its postmodern future? Does
Maastricht represent an ‘irreversible move towards real federation’ (Anderson 1997:
126)? Or is it a doomed experiment, likely to intensify the very thing it is designed
to forestall – the resurgence of nationalism at the very heart of the Union?
My subject is the future of nations as political actors in the new Europe. I will
argue that the enduring power of nations is misunderstood because commentators
conflate nation with nation-state, and equate the potency of the political nation
with its modernising rather than with its identity functions. Most analysts exaggerate
the contemporary Europeanisation of nations, failing to note that being ‘European’
has always been enmeshed with national agendas. The concept of ‘Europe’ is largely
indeterminate, given a common definition only when imposed by the ‘great nationstates’,
and as such is unable to inspire a directive and solidaristic response in crises
when national interests conflict. What is in doubt is the medium-term viability
of the European Union, not of its constituent nation-states, for the historical record
reveals federations, like empires, have a poor record in the modern world.
The chapter falls into two parts. The first is historical. This examines three
aspects of nations: the basis and functions of national identities; the manner in which
European nation-states have tried to regulate political, economic, cultural and
military processes; and how such nations have conceived of their relationships
to Europe. The second part discusses how far the formation of the European
Community represents a fundamental break with the Europe of nation-states, and
the likely future of nations in the new contexts of monetary union and eastwards
expansion.