Transatlantic Symposium - Detailseite

The Transatlantic world has been unsettled by major crises over the last years. The virtual collapse of the financial system, followed by the deepest economic recession since World War II, and then the specter of a debt-driven apocalypse dominated public and policy attention. Although the worst has been averted in most countries, major issues remain. Some countries like Greece and Spain will be plagued by economic problems for years. Stronger economies like the United States and Germany will find it challenging to regain the wealth and economic momentum that they previously enjoyed—especially as power slowly shifts to the East and South.

The immediacy of this financial and economic crisis, however, has masked temporarily more fundamental challenges in the Transatlantic world. Despite decades of rhetoric and efforts to “build Europe” or achieve “unity in diversity,” European institutions have been almost invisible in face of the economic crisis. The much vaunted decline of the nation-state has proven illusory, with even a modicum of supranational policy coordination absent. Almost all of the policy responses have occurred within the confines of the “withering” nation-state and any international coordination that happened was a consequence of old fashioned bilateral deals. What does this say about the current and future capacities of “Europe?”

In the wake of these processes, new versions of (old) national identity narratives have regained currency. In both the United States and Europe, this is connected to rising concerns with immigration and on-going challenges in accepting multicultural and multi-religious realities. Many states are mired in ongoing processes of redefining their national narratives, complicated by persistent movements for increased subnational autonomy. The resurgent quest for national solutions puts renewed pressure on national minorities and immigrant groups.

Th course will address significant political, social and cultural implications of these conflicts on current (re-)formulations of national identity on both sides of the Atlantic. Based upon a discussion of recent theoretical conceptualization of the nation state we will analyse current manifestations of national narratives in Europe and the United States and explore the challenges they entail for transatlantic relations.