Evropská identita v informační společnosti

Abstract

Article considers various aspects of development of the nation-state in the time of modernity as well as implications for institutional settings of liberal democratic nation-state facing process of globalization and new mechanisms brought by the information society. On this basis situation of Europe and especially of the European Union, as a unique multi-cultural institutional structure, is examined taking into account especially question of European identity in contrast to cultural diversity of Europe. As a core matter this article argues that a solution for Europe could be in an attempt to redefine concept of identity of individual citizens of European states. Following Habermas' theory, this article explains that this new concept could be understood as forming a dual identity of citizen - one of its dimensions being universal political embedding in common values of the society, while the other one being rooted in cultural particularity of citizen's community, with possibility of connecting it to more cultural contexts. As the political dimension of the identity can never be completely separated from the cultural context from which it emerges, it must be emphasised that this level of identity must be understood as permanent process of democratic dialogue based on all representative cultural contexts of the society. New institutional structure of Europe must be based on three pillars in order to deal successfully with challenges of the information society and globalization: redefinition of identity of European citizens in terms of dual identity as mentioned above; actualisation of 64 educational systems in order to support this redefined content of citizenship; and finally activities to support possibilities of citizens' participation in the information society mechanisms, particularly support of the information literacy.