The Political Reconstruction of National and European Identity in France and Germany after the Second World War

Abstract

In 2000 the German Christian Democrats (CDU) introduced the notion of “Leitkultur” (leading culture) as a necessary framework for the integration of non-European foreigners in the German society. For some weeks a nervous debate followed. While many questioned the appropriateness of the term and some asked which institutions would define a distinct “German Culture” others argued for its confirmation. 1 Only two months later the debate was over – with the Christian Democrats making no more use of their own term. Obviously they were not equal to the debate and felt that they would not win any vote by mainly being attacked instead of attacking. Ultimately, German insecurity concerning national identity was clearly exposed. However, the fact that politics consistently discusses and constructs identity remained hidden, all the more so, arguably, as the issue of identity is challenged. In the 20th century the biggest challenges for most European countries, at least on a political level, were the World Wars and the concept and the process of European integration for Western Europe as a consequence thereof. From its beginning this process denied the state’s monopoly of sovereignty and increasingly relativized the state’s judicial and legal systems. From the beginning the question asked was to what extent one could and should be European and what this meant in terms of one Nation being distinct from another. So far discussions about shifting identity constructions in the process of European integration have never been the object of a comparative analysis. Various historians and sociologists have recently either criticized the concept of “collective identity” or denied its analytical value. 2 Instead of commenting on this discussion I would like to insist on the historical value of analyzing semantic we-group-constructions and their different elements. For an empirical approach it could be useful to make a distinction between forms of semantic inclusion and forms of semantic exclusion as the two basic mechanisms of we-group-building, on the one hand, and three levels on which they can operate on the other. The three levels can be named as the cognitive, the normative and the affective level. 3 These assumptions are the implicit