Sub-State Nationalism and European Integration: Constructing Identity in the Multi-Level Political Space of Europe

In this article it will be analysed how sub-state nationalist parties construct national identities in the multi-level political space of the European Union. It is argued that there is an interdependent relationship between the process of European integration and the construction of these collective identities: While the process of European integration has an impact on key dimensions of national identity, the way national identity is shaped determines the party's attitude towards European integration and its vision of Europe.

This article is structured as follows: In the first section the authorl outlines the analytical framework of the comparative analysis of the identity constructions of three sub-state nationalist parties: the Lega Nord, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party. The central dimensions of sub-state nationalist identities, which provide the raw materials to construct boundary markers (party history and ideology, the concept of the nation, centre-periphery relationships and party positions on Europe) are presented. In the following section. The author then takes a closer look at the empirical evidence of how the 'imagined community' (Anderson 1991) is shaped in each case of and how these constructions are related to the process of European integration.

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