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Which country or countries in Europe would you say have the weakest sense of national identity or sense of unity? Or perhaps sense of nationhood?
Or to put it another way, which country's borders seem to most artificial? Which country seems like just a rag-tag mix of different ethnicities and cultural groups?
The obvious candidate is Belgium. The Flemish and Walloons seem like two different nationalities, and there's a bit of an arm wrestle between the two over control of Belgium and the Belgian parliament. Oddly too it's a monarchy but I have no idea how that plays into things.
I doubt it would be the one, but the United Kingdom is an example. The Scottish are fiercely independent, and I wonder if pride in the UK is more English, Scottish, Welsh than British.
The Swiss have always seemed very much a nation-apart, yet it's split between the majority Swiss-Germans and others. It still seems they have a strong sense of nationhood, through their age and their unique position in Europe.
Spain has the Basques and of course the Catalans, but Spanish culture is quite unifying. In Serbia there is still Kosovo.
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have always split up. I can't see any other nations in a similar position to Belgium, or do I see Switzerland breaking apart anytime soon.
Which country or countries in Europe would you say have the weakest sense of national identity or sense of unity? Or perhaps sense of nationhood?
Or to put it another way, which country's borders seem to most artificial? Which country seems like just a rag-tag mix of different ethnicities and cultural groups?
The obvious candidate is Belgium. The Flemish and Walloons seem like two different nationalities, and there's a bit of an arm wrestle between the two over control of Belgium and the Belgian parliament. Oddly too it's a monarchy but I have no idea how that plays into things.
I doubt it would be the one, but the United Kingdom is an example. The Scottish are fiercely independent, and I wonder if pride in the UK is more English, Scottish, Welsh than British.
The Swiss have always seemed very much a nation-apart, yet it's split between the majority Swiss-Germans and others. It still seems they have a strong sense of nationhood, through their age and their unique position in Europe.
Spain has the Basques and of course the Catalans, but Spanish culture is quite unifying. In Serbia there is still Kosovo.
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia have always split up. I can't see any other nations in a similar position to Belgium, or do I see Switzerland breaking apart anytime soon.
Belgium, Holland, to some extent the UK and other multinational countries with an exception of Switzerland that despite national diversity seems to be really unified in preserving one national identity.
Belgium and Holland have an ongoing conflicts between French and Dutch speaking populations. The UK.. Well, I met a Scots and Welsh still remembering that they are not English and were subjugated to join the Union, even more in case of Northern Island.
While one of my favorite places on the planet, I am going to say Portugal. Their perch, economically speaking, in the EU is not good, on a par with Greece. The fact that they lost an empire long ago has sort of permanently wounded their national psyche. That is why they are a lot less boisterous than the adjacent Spaniards, which actually is a relief ... there are Portuguese people who display some mild xenophobia and others who are extremely kind. The funny thing is that I can't say that about Greece. Hellenistic pride is indeed very strong, despite their problems. It is also very strong on this side of the ocean. One only needs to go to a Greek Festival to see this. While there is the saying "una faccia, una razza," they have this subtle competitive thing going with the Italians. Greeks are usually more pleasant one on one, than when they are when spoken to in a group. I'll take the Portuguese over the Greeks easily.
Luxemburg, because of its size maybe.
Also Austria, very similar to Germany although all Austrians I know dislike a lot Germans lol.
Portugal... maybe, very similar to Spain, but when you visit Portugal you notice it's full of signs of identity.
Chescoslovaquia,a little mix too.
Spain has the Basques and of course the Catalans, but Spanish culture is quite unifying.
Not at all, it's quite the opposite.
And Basques and Catalans are not the only ones with a culture and a language other than Spanish, in fact, Catalans share the language and the culture with most of the Mediterranean spanish coast, and the Basques with Navarra, the difference is that the others regions doesn't have problems having a different culture and another native language other than spanish but belong to Spain.
Last edited by chascarrillo; 10-07-2012 at 02:10 PM..
And Basques and Catalans are not the only ones with a culture and a language other than Spanish, in
fact, Catalans share the language and the culture with most of the Mediterranean spanish coast, and the Basques with Navarra, the difference is that the others regions doesn't have problems having a different culture and another native language other than spanish but belong to Spain.
I love your explanation, for example in Andalucia the culture is totally different to Asturias and both belong to Spain and both are happy, this is a good example, the same with Canaries and Castilians, or Galicians and Extremeños.
It is one of the things I love about Spain, the multiculture.
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