I’m annoyed with Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s taken an irritating and inexplicably-popular American phrase about ducks and moved it into meme territory. It’s only a matter of time before some nostalgic guy with time on his hands spins up an “all … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Identity
The Internal Contradictions of E.U. Identity Construction
There’s been a flap this week about an ad produced by the European Commission touting the benefits of E.U. enlargement. Watch: The video draws on the martial arts film genre, and shows a woman wearing a Beatrix Kiddo-esque yellow jumpsuit … Continue reading
Identity and the Nation-State – Once More With Feeling
“…if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” - E.M. Forster Dani Rodrik has a good post over at Project Syndicate arguing for the continued relevance of … Continue reading
A Note on Meaningful Identity
James Joyner has a post up on Mario Monti’s fears of a political “backlash” arising from “mutual resentments” between northern and southern Europe. It points to some interesting meditations on the interaction of economics, politics and culture that are more … Continue reading
Nationalism and Imperial Decline
I recently confessed that I’ve spent precious little time watching the marathon of Republican debates this campaign season. Maybe this makes me a bad citizen, but my tendencies toward psychological masochism have their limits. That said I have tried to keep … Continue reading
Transnational Elites and the Cession of Popular Sovereignty
A couple of weeks ago, for a class I’m currently taking, I thumbed through a battered copy of Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation. Published in 1944, the book sought to make sense of the creation and subsequent unraveling of 19th … Continue reading
Identity Matters: Generational Turnover in Iraq
Regular readers know that the political effects of generational turnover are something about which I occasionally muse. It’s a tough phenomenon to study with much rigor, as generational worldviews are shaped by just about every social, political and economic variable … Continue reading
Identity Matters: National Anthems
Sullivan has a quick one-off about whether the U.S. national anthem should be sung “triumphantly” or whether there’s room for more somber, uncertain musical interpretations. My opinions on the U.S. national anthem as a song involve a rant that’s tangential … Continue reading
Sharia, the Veil, and that (Non-Existent) Existential Threat
Reflecting on the hype about the allegedly existential threat that Shari’a law poses to American democracy, law professor Anver Emon makes a compelling distinction between how America has confronted its fear of Islamism, and how Europe has. The European response … Continue reading
Identity Matters: East Asian Nationalism in an Age of Complex Interdependence
Paul Staniland has a very engaging post over at The Monkey Cage critiquing this long Robert Kaplan piece about security competition in the South China Sea. Kaplan’s arguments are interesting, though in my view he fails to examine some baseline … Continue reading