Ireland: Contested Ideas of Nationalism and History

8. Civic/Ethnic Identities in a British Context (2000)

Chapter Eight Civic/Ethnic Identities in a British Context () In the s Ernest Gellner, Eric Hobsbawm, and Benedict Anderson, among others, introduced new perspectives into the study of nationalism.1 Since then nationalism itself has reemerged as a political force to be reckoned with and academic analysis of the phenomenon has developed at a remarkable rate. Amid the flood of new concepts the distinction between civic and ethnic nationalism seems to have taken particular hold. Rogers Brubaker, for example, demonstrated the importance of this distinction by contrasting the French model of civic national identity which derives from the universalism of the French Revolution, and the German ethnic model, which takes “blood” descent as the basis of German national identity, with its origins in the Romantic Movement.2 As Brubaker showed, the contrast was not merely a matter for academic debate. On the contrary, it affected the life of thousands of individuals. In France, a civic approach to national identity led to a generally inclusive approach to immigrants. In Germany, however, second- and third-generation Turkish immigrants, Germanspeaking , found themselves unable to acquire German citizenship, whereas Russian-speaking “ethnic” Germans who had emigrated to Russia a century or more earlier and now wished to return encountered no such obstacles. This model of contrasting attitudes to national identity gains force if the United States is brought into the picture. Clearly, the U.S. constitution rests upon the notion of a civic American identity though this is not to deny that in certain periods and in particular states ethnic identities have been dominant, most notably in the case of slavery. Looked at more closely, however, the contrast between French and German models of national identity appears less than absolute. In France discrimination on ethnic grounds lies behind the success of the National 163 Front in some areas. In Germany recent moves toward a more civic awareness have led to legislative changes in favor of Turkish immigrants. Perhaps we should think in terms of competing paradigms of national identity , with the balance favoring the one or the other according to the rhetorical or political power which they are able to mobilize. With this perspective in mind, how then should we classify the United Kingdom? In its approach to citizenship is it nearer to France and the United States on the one hand, or to Germany on the other; or are other models relevant? Defining Britishness The most recent British attempt to define the issues took place in  with the passing of the Immigration Act. This allowed all those from within the United Kingdom to claim British citizenship provided they had at least one U.K.-born grandparent. Special treatment was also promised to those who could prove long-standing family connections with the U.K., termed “patriality.” Looked at in the context of the previous  years, that is, since the end of the Second World War, this represents a shift away from a largely civic and inclusive definition of British citizenship toward a more ethnic and exclusive one. The Act was in fact the latest in a series of legislative changes designed to curtail large-scale immigration from former British-governed territories in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. The United Kingdom has apparently moved away from a broad definition of civic Britishness based upon membership of the Commonwealth to a more restricted definition based upon ethnic considerations. The legislation of  and its predecessors, passed under both Labour and Conservative governments, restricted the flow of overseas immigrants. Despite this the United Kingdom has become a multiethnic society. In sport, in politics, in entertainment, in cuisine, in business, in education, in medicine and in other activities, postwar immigrants and their second- or third-generation descendants are making a distinctive contribution to the life of Britain. Racial prejudice undoubtedly exists, but the grim scenario evoked by Enoch Powell in his notorious “rivers of blood” speech of  has not come to pass. Clearly, however, problems involving assimilation into the host country remain. As I write, for example (), newspaper headlines are drawing attention to the murder in Bradford of a young Muslim woman by her relatives because she had broken the religious code of the traditional family. In such a case the problematic aspects of 164 Civic/Ethnic Identities in a British Context “Britishness” and “being British” are clearly brought to the fore. How do the children of such a family perceive themselves? And, of equal importance...