New forms of collective identity in Europe

Abstract

This article suggests an answer to the question of national identity and belonging to nation-states in an avant-garde Europe. In other words, it examines: what might the avant-garde of national identity in Europe in the XXI century be; will nationalities and simple belonging to nation-states be sufficient for Europeans; what is the vitality and the potential of pan-European identity to fill the gaps of national identity; and how the two strains of belonging relate to each other. The central argument is built around the idea of the clash between neonationalism and postnationalism in the form of pan-Europeanism, in which new forms of collective identity in Europe are emerging.