Vicarious Evaluation: How European Integration Changes National Identities

Abstract

This paper explores how European integration impacts the national identities of member states. Identity is an amorphous concept, and so this paper focuses on one dimension of it: the perception of relative status of the nation that nationalized individuals possess. Perceptions of relative national status flow from the fact that the international system is characterized with hierarchy, competition, and concerns for relative gains and losses. A key motivation for the foreign policies of lower status nations is equality with higher status ones, and for the former European integration is often perceived in equalizing terms. But this perception of Europe as equalizer often does not correspond with the objective unequal power relations in Europe. This paper focuses on why, among nationalized individuals, perceptions of power differentials change even though objectively the unequal inter-state power relations remain unchanged. The case study is Italy entering the European Monetary Union in 1999, which was perceived by many Italians in equalizing terms, even though the unequal power relations between Italy and Europe’s elite countries remained objectively unchanged.