The character of the European Union has evolved from an inter-national
organisation to what is best described as a supra-national organisation. As a
consequence of this, all member states had to surrender parts of their
sovereignty to the institutions of the Union as national legislation has to be
in line with European legislation and directives.
The emergence of this new and still developing form of political,
economic and cultural organisation that has powers, which reach beyond those of
sovereign states, and even actively influence their domestic policy options,
challenges the concept of nationalism. This paper seeks to identify the
consequences of the rise of the EU has for the two core strands of nationalism
theory, namely primordialism and modernism. Is the European Union in any way
compatible with either of the strands or is it directly opposing the concept of
nationalism? In the second part, we will briefly look at the limitations of
such a supra-national "state" and also seek to identify similarities between
the national and supra-national model of statehood.
The complexity of this topic becomes all too clear if one looks at the
motto of the European Union which is a contradiction in itself: "United in diversity".
Christian von Campe is a student at the University of Aberdeen
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March 26, 2011
Amarjyoti Acharya