A master thesis from Aalborg University
Divisive Forces: Nationalism and globalization in the context of the Eurozone crisis
Author(s)
Term
10. term
Publication year
2012
Submitted on
2012-09-17
Pages
75 pages
Abstract
Nationalism has surprised academics by reemerging strongly in an increasingly globalized world. In spite of the perceived weakening of state sovereignty that supranational institutions supposedly entails, national voices are becoming ever louder in the European Union member states. National interests have assumed a central place in the rhetoric of national leaders and new radical nationalist movements are rising. This project investigates the modern conditions for nationalism, especially its relation to globalization, in an attempt to understand their interaction and the prospects for their continued societal influence. The methodological approach is a dialectical process that contrasts theories of nationalism and globalization while regarding the different approaches within International Relations that guide them. Nationalism and globalization, according to this project, cannot be disengaged from context and history. This approach produces arguments based on human sense-making processes that can explain the persistence of nationalism and pose counterarguments to a widespread understanding of nationalism as a purely negative phenomenon. The cross-examination of nationalism and globalization leads to an analysis on the role of nationalism in the formation of the European Union. This analysis builds the foundation for a second analysis that considers the international response of Germany in the Eurozone crisis. The hesitant response of Germany has raised the question if their postwar era of pro-European leadership is coming to an end. On the background of the dialectic analysis this project is able to offer an in-depth explanation taking German identity and its historic relationship to the European project of integration into account.
Keywords
Documents
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