Victimhood as Victory: The Role of Memory Politics in the Process of De-Europeanisation in East-Central Europe

Abstract

Gerard Delanty’s central thesis is that Europeans should not worry about the resurgence of nationalism. He distinguishes a new kind of nationalism exemplified by recent developments in Scotland and Catalonia and suggests these phenomena pose more of a threat to national polities than they do to the institutions of the EU. The rise of individualism, he argues, has undermined the appeal of collective identities including a collective European identity. He points to a new form of identification with a more cosmopolitan vision of Europe among young Europeans. In my response, I would like to set out three stages in the development of modern Europe to contrast with the three phases of development of nationalism that Gerard Delanty has described.