Since the establishment of the republic in 1923 there has never been a consensus over Turkey‘s national identity, either internally or externally. Westernization was a top-down project that fostered societal resistance from the outset and which received only partial recognition from the West itself. The end of the Cold War has further intensified the debates over Turkish identity both in Turkey itself and in the wider world. This thesis examines the implications of a complex and insecure identity for Turkey‘s political development and in particular its ability to develop an international role commensurate with its size and capabilities. In doing so, it demonstrates the connection between different notions of Turkish identity and foreign policy preferences whilst emphasising also the important role of the international institutional context (for example membership of NATO and the EU) in shaping the preferences of diverse state/societal actors within Turkey in the post-Cold War period. The focus in this regard is on the military, political parties and business/civil-society groups. The thesis engages recent debates between constructivists and rationalists and argues that a constructivist account of Turkish foreign policy is more helpful than a rationalist explanation, through the case studies of Turkey‘s relations with the EU, Greece and the Middle East in the post-Cold War period. It shows how rational actor assumptions operate within a constructivist context and aims to shed light on the relationship between identity, political interests and foreign policy. The thesis also demonstrates that an insecure identity is a barrier to pursue consistent foreign policy goals, thereby lending support to the view that a secure identity is a condition of developing a stable and influential role in the post-Cold War system.

The twentieth century saw the spread of Western art music across the world as Western ideology and values acquired increasing dominance in the global order. How did this process occur in China, what complexities does it display and what are its distinctive features? This thesis aims to provide a detailed and coherent understanding of the Westernisation of Chinese music in the 20th century, focusing on the ever-changing relationship between music and social ideology and the rise and evolution of national identity as expressed in music. This thesis views these issues through three crucial stages: the early period of the 20th century which witnessed the transition of Chinese society from an empire to a republic and included China's early modernisation; the era from the 1930s to 1940s comprising the Japanese intrusion and the rising of the Communist power; and the decades of economic and social reform from 1978 onwards. The thesis intertwines the concrete analysis of particular pieces of music with social context and demonstrates previously overlooked relationships between these stages. It also seeks to illustrate in the context of the appropriation of Western art music how certain concepts acquired new meanings in their translation from the European to the Chinese context, for example modernity, Marxism, colonialism, nationalism, tradition, liberalism, and so on.

The aim of this essay is to examine Scottishness in the television series Outlander, to see if it has the potential to contribute with national identities, despite being a large-scale American production which tends to present stereotypical representations. The depiction is of the Scottish Highlands in the 18th century when the Highland culture was diminished. Using a semiotic approach, I analyse visual signs and find key elements which are used to represent the Highland culture. The series is based on a romantic plot and has stereotypical elements in representing Scotland and its culture. However, I argue that despite the stereotypical representations, the ethnic group in question still can gain national emotion from the depiction. This, because of Scotland’s already romanticized history and heritage culture today. The study comes to the conclusion that a popular media representation, like Outlander, can have an impact on a nation’s identity and even politics, by reconstructing historical legends in a modern world and bringing forth a sense of belonging-ness in excess of the stereotypes accompanied.

This thesis seeks to understand how the restrictive immigration policies – taken by the Swedish Government in 2015 as Europe was facing a huge stream of people seeking refuge – could be justified when research demonstrates that Sweden’s national identity is based on humanitarianism and asserts that Sweden has a great commitment to human rights. The nationalistic act seemed paradoxical – however, previous research displays a disputed understanding of the relationship between the humanitarian discourse and the nationalistic discourse. The thesis uses discourse theory to trace how the Swedish Government through its representation of the decision to tighten immigration constructs and reproduces the Swedish national identity. The empirical analysis displays a shift in the focus of Swedish immigration policy from an international (humanitarian) one to a national one. Even though it is not possible to fully assert an identity change the analysis indicates an identity crisis – the analysis demonstrates how humanitarian values acquires meaning within a nationalistic discourse. The thesis also demonstrates how the Swedish Government represents immigration as a contradiction to the Swedish welfare state. The decision to tighten immigration appears as a measure taken in order to rescue the national identity and its main feature – the welfare.

The central question of this thesis is: “How can people be mobilised to feel strongly attached to or invest into their nations?” Following a review of literature on the psychology of nationhood, a social identity approach towards national attachment is suggested. The possibility of the family metaphor (e.g. fatherland) as a rhetorical device anchoring the nation in filial qualities (e.g. belonging) is discussed. In the first study, establishing the general prevalence of family metaphors and aiming to test their use as a means of mobilisation, the content of language corpora, speeches, parliamentary debates and national anthems is analysed. The results demonstrate frequent use, especially in connection to mobilisation (e.g. in speeches). Study II tests whether merely linking a stimulus to a family metaphor will elicit a positive response and increase national identification. It does so by presenting a student sample (n = 149) with a neutral picture stimulus with different titles including family terms and family metaphors; no effects of any particular picture title on national identity emerged, but a considerable share of participants provided negative Nazi-related associations when primed with ‘fatherland'. Given the apparent relevance of meaning, the third study employed a word association task to provide a more in-depth account of German (n = 119) and British students' (n =138) common associations for family metaphors, confirming that some participants associate them with a negative past (e.g. WW II) or negative politics (e.g. nationalism). In an attempt to avoid the impact of said negative associations, Study IV draws on brotherhood – the metaphor seen as most positive – adding a call for ‘working in unity as volunteers', i.e. a context matching the metaphoric use in anthems, contrasting it with a) a call to work ‘as citizens' or b) a non-matching context (‘being devoted'). While it was assumed that such a fitting mobilisation context (i.e. ‘working together') would be buttressed by a family metaphor, similar results emerged. In a sample (n = 102) matched to the overall population, the brother metaphor did not have an effect on national identification and participants reported lower agreement with a statement presented together with a family metaphor, often providing associations of nationalism or Nazism. The fifth study responded to the frequent associations of the Second World War by providing British (n = 109) and German (n = 113) students with a distant past (1830s) or WW II context prior to presenting a text that was either using family metaphors or not. It aimed to test whether avoiding a link to the Second World War would alleviate the negative associations. However, the results pointed in the opposite direction, i.e. German participants were more likely to invest in their nations if family metaphors and the 1930s occurred together, albeit the negative understanding of family metaphors provided in the previous studies remained, which can be interpreted as an expression of collective guilt. In the last study, a fictitious nation was presented to a general student sample at the University of St Andrews (n = 198) as either trying to achieve independence through militant struggle or building cultural institutions. As in the previous studies, the majority of participants saw family metaphors as negative, and only a small minority from countries with a higher acceptance of power-distance described them in a positive light. This thesis argues that, in the light of the results, the family metaphor has to be understood as evoking historically situated meanings and is seen as essentialising nationhood, a notion predominantly not matching the understanding participants had of their nation and consequently being rejected. It suggests that a) (national) identity research needs to be aware of context and b) other frameworks for exalted attachment should be investigated.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between language and nation-building. The research is based on critical analysis of nation, nationalism, nation-building and language ideology theories. These theories are applied in the case study: Language as a symbol of the Ukrainian national identity. In order to analyze the origins of such symbolism, the Ukrainian nation-building project is analyzed in historical and political context. In the case study the model of the Ukrainian nation-building is examined through the prism of language policy. This thesis outlines the shortcomings of current state language policy and suggests recommendations for its future improvement.

In Cyprus that experienced British imperial rule from 1878 until 1960, Greek and Turkish nationalism developed at different historical periods and at different paces. Relations between Turkish Cypriots and the British on the one hand, and Greek Cypriots and the British on the other, were asymmetrical. During the colonial era in Cyprus, the Muslim community had undergone an enormous change in terms of national/ethnic identity and class characteristics. Turkish Cypriot nationalism developed belatedly as a militant nationalist and anti-Enosis movement. Against this background this thesis explores the relationship between the emergence of the Turkish national identity and the British colonial rule because the latter set out the international, political, social and ideological context wherein the Turkish national identity was shaped. In particular this thesis focusing on the period between the two World Wars (1923-1939) when the transformation of the Muslims of Cyprus into Turkish Cypriots occurred, examines the extent to which the British rule affected the process of development of Turkish nationalism on Cyprus. This thesis discusses educational and administrative policies implemented by the British rule that had an impact on the politics of the Muslim community of Cyprus. The development of Turkish Cypriot national identity is also placed in the broader international context of the Eastern Mediterranean, with due attention being paid to the role of both Turkey and Italy. The impact of the Kemalist reforms on Cyprus and the resultant division of Turkish Cypriots into two conflicting groups of Kemalists and traditionalists is presented, and British fears of Italian expansionism under Mussolini are also examined. The final conclusion is that while a Turkish Cypriot identity would inevitably have developed, the divisive way it developed was a result of the imperial policies the British rule implemented during the period in question.

This research seeks to understand how Québec governments have constructed the relation between national identity and cultural diversity from the 1960s’ Quiet Revolution to the 2010s by analyzing the discursive and historical dynamics that have shaped Québec identity politics in this period. First, it clarifies how national identity and cultural diversity are symbolically constructed in relation to one another by analyzing three key discursive lenses that have shaped the construction of national identity and cultural diversity in Québec since the Quiet Revolution, namely nationalism, pluralism, and secularism. These lenses offer different interpretations of the identity-diversity problematic, suggesting competing imperatives that social actors must balance against one another when constructing the relation between national identity and cultural diversity. Second, this research examines how state actors in Québec have mobilized these lenses through policy initiatives and discursive strategies and tried to influence how members of their community think about national identity and respond to cultural diversity. Québec governments’ approaches to diversity management have shifted significantly in this period, from promoting the French language and intercultural integration in the mid- to late-20th century to focusing on religious difference and rigid secularism in the early 21st century. Contributors to this shift include increasing nationalist anxieties through the 1990s, followed by the reasonable accommodation debate and the Bouchard-Taylor Commission in the 2000s. This analysis highlights the challenges that sub-state nationalists face when constructing the relation between national identity and cultural diversity, including the need to manage the cultural anxieties of the majority group. / Graduate

Under the latest presidential election in the USA debates of the national identity was one of the central topics, which have made the polarization between the parties wider. Today we know that people choose the media that sympathies with their opinion and turn from the media that challenge their political believes. By studying newspapers one can examine what they say about national identity and membership, which in turn shows which groups are represented in society. By using membership as a theory, the study gives a new theoretical approach and see if membership theory can describe how the American identity is described in newspapers. The study will analyze six American newspapers and ten articles per paper, in total of 60 articles. The method is describing analysis of ideas, which will be used to clarify and analyze how the newspapers are describing membership. All the newspapers are analyzed separately and, in the end, a comparative analysis between the papers is made. There are three major conclusions to been drawn. The first one shows a divided identity in USA, but all the papers have the same solution, it is the governments task to fix and restore the national identity. The second conclusion shows how divided the newspapers are from their ideological undertone from different points of views of membership. The third conclusion shows that all newspapers describe membership in different ways.

Thesis advisor: Peter Krause / What explains the lack of democracy in the Arab Middle East, when so many other, less wealthy regions of the world have democratized over the past five decades? This thesis engages with each of the major explanations for the "Arab democracy deficit"--Islam, the "oil curse," authoritarian statecraft, and external intervention--but argues that there is a more fundamental culprit for the region's woes: the weakness of state-based nationalism. At a time when nationalism is increasingly seen as synonymous with exclusion and discrimination, such a finding may strike many observers as counterintuitive. However, this thesis theoretically and empirically demonstrates how healthy, state-based nationalism can provide the societal cohesion needed to establish liberal governance. It then offers in-depth analyses of the development of national identity and democracy in eleven separate Arab countries, arguing that the rise of regional Arab nationalism in the 1950s severely undermined the development of state-based nationalism (wataniyya), and laid the groundwork for decades of instability, civil strife, and oppression. Fortunately, the examples of Tunisia and Lebanon--and to some extent Jordan and Morocco--demonstrate that wataniyya can lead to much more democratic outcomes when properly nurtured. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Scholar of the College. / Discipline: Political Science.