How Is Collective Identity Possible in Democracies? Political Integration and the Leitkultur Debate in Germany

Simon Bein

doi:10.1007/s11615-021-00365-4

Abstract

The quest for a common collective identity has become a challenge for modern democracy: Liberal demands for greater inclusion and individual freedom, aspirations for a strong and solidaric political community, as well as nationalist or right-wing populist calls for exclusion and a preservation of hegemonic national identities are creating tensions that cannot be overlooked. This article therefore formulates the central question of how collective identity can be possible in a liberal democracy. Based on a case study on Germany, it will therefore be examined whether Leitkultur as a model of political integration can serve in generating a functional democratic collective identity. The necessary benchmarks guiding the analysis will be defined beforehand from a systems-theoretical perspective, balancing inclusion and exclusion within three crucial dimensions: normative basics, historic continuity, and affirmative bindings. The results show that a static definition of a German Leitkultur would in the long run neither achieve functional inclusion nor be able to generate the necessary cohesion of a political community, especially regarding the second and third identity dimensions.

Highlights

Liberal Western democracies have been experiencing difficulties in establishing a common identity: There are no longer static peoples, and the population structures are changing rapidly due to migration, globalization, and demographic shifts, which involves reconfiguring citizenship rights and related notions of shared identity
Based on a case study on Germany, it will be examined whether Leitkultur as a model of political integration can serve in generating a functional democratic collective identity
The results show that a static definition of a German Leitkultur would in the long run neither achieve functional inclusion nor be able to generate the necessary cohesion of a political community, especially regarding the second and third identity dimensions

Summary

Introduction

Liberal Western democracies have been experiencing difficulties in establishing a common identity: There are no longer static peoples, and the population structures are changing rapidly due to migration, globalization, and demographic shifts, which involves reconfiguring citizenship rights and related notions of shared identity. The central thesis of this article argues that a functional model of political integration must, firstly, provide formal citizenship criteria that embody a liberal value foundation of the political community; secondly, be able to tell a narrative of commonality that is expressed in inclusive everyday cultural symbols and traditions; and thirdly, be the basis for a sufficiently strong affirmative commitment among members and toward the political order Taken together, these assets form the three dimensions of a collective democratic identity, and, as I further argue, in each of these dimensions there appears a central conflict between a simultaneous need for inclusion and exclusion, or as Martin Sebaldt The examination of the present integration concepts is central by analyzing whether there are approximations to the dysfunctional poles and whether exaggeratedly inclusive or exclusive components can have a disintegrating effect on democracy

The Case of the German Leitkultur

The Leitkultur Debate and its Main Arguments

Leitkultur as a Functional Model of Democratic Collective Identity?

Conclusion