Opinion The return of hard-edged national identities

The European Union was a political concept,designed to tame a bellicose Germany. Strong economic interdependence and a common European identity,it was thought,would be cultivated by the institutions of the union,as Europeans benefited from the economic prosperity that integration would create. Elites could sell that concept to their publics as long as Europe prospered and had high international status.

As Europe’s status declines,the already shaky European identity will weaken further and the citizens of the richer European nations will be more likely to identify nationally — as Germans or French — rather than as Europeans. This will increase their reluctance to use their taxes for bailouts of the ethnically different Southern Europeans,especially the culturally distant Greeks; and it will diminish any prospect of fiscal integration that could help save the euro. The result is a vicious circle: as ethnic identities return,ethnic differences become more pronounced,and all sides fall back on stereotypes and the stigmatisation of the adversary through language or actions intended to dehumanise,thereby justifying hostile actions.

The slide to ethnic conflict in Europe is not violent,but it can nonetheless be destructive,both economically and politically. Take the roiling tensions between Greece and Germany. A recent survey finds that a majority of Germans want Greece out of the euro if it doesn’t reform quickly,even though most analysts say that a Greek exit would have incalculable costs for Germany. Clearly something deeper is motivating the German public.

This is not just the result of economic weariness or fear. It is the predictable re-emergence of hard-edged national identities,which the European Union hoped to banish. True,many Greeks,especially those living abroad,still toe the European line about “taking the medicine” prescribed by the European “doctors,” no matter how painful.

Sambanis is a professor of political science and the director of the Programme in Ethics,Politics and Economics at Yale