against the multiplicity of aspects to be considered at the conceptual level, it is clear that welfare nationalism is not a one-dimensional or one-level phenomenon. rather, welfare nationalism often occurs in complex situations with several regional, national or supranational ac-tors acting at different levels and in different political and social struc-tures. This section suggests that, departing from the above definition of welfare nationalism as an individual or collective commitment to the welfare-related national interests and ideas, we should examine the empiric dimension of welfare nationalism at four levels.5
The micro level of analysis refers to the welfare nationalism of in-dividuals and focuses mainly on its psychological aspects. it is mainly a domain of quantitative research which provides us with insights on auto-categorisations and xeno-categorisations in terms of national distinction on the basis of welfare narratives, as well as individuals’
expressions of interests and emotions related to national attachment resulting from national mega-narratives related to welfare. in other words, the micro level of welfare nationalism refers to the individu-als’ self-categorisation as members of a welfare nation with the term welfare being the most important “membership category”.6 such a
5 for the four levels of nationalism see suszycki, andrzej marcin and ireneusz paweł Karolewski (2011) The nation and nationalism in europe. an introduction, edinburgh:
edinburgh University press, 104–114.
6 see sacks, harvey (1992) lectures on conversation, edited by Gail Jefferson; with an introduction by emanuel a. schegloff, oxford: Blackwell.
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self-categorisation leads –according to tajfel –to individuals favouring their own national ingroup and discriminating against members of the outgroup: The “we” of the welfare ingroup identity implies a contras-tive “them” who do not constitute a part of the ingroup.7
The second level of analysis is –in reference to robert merton –the meso level.8 it functions as a ‘theoretical field in which the structural mechanisms and the interactions between macro and micro levels might be observed’9 but might also be absent. accordingly, the meso level of welfare nationalism is an intermediary level between the wel-fare nationalism of individuals and that of central government or, in other words, between the individual and the state. it can be consid-ered as a part of society or of politics, or, more likely, a mixture of the two. relevant actors at this level are political and societal groups, for instance representatives of political life (political parties and other political organisations), economic and social interest groups and trade unions. Welfare nationalism at the meso level can be defined as a dis-cursive commitment of non-governmental actors to national welfare interests or to national ideas related to welfare. The meso level of wel-fare nationalism includes various meanings of narratives referring to national interests and ideas, their construction and reconstruction, and conflicts between contending visions of these narratives, as they are identified and sustained by different political and societal groups.10
7 tajfel, henri (1981) human groups and social categories, cambridge: cambridge Uni-versity press.
8 see merton, robert (1968) social Theory and social structure, new York: free press.
9 see haanpaa, leena (2007) ‘structures and mechanisms in sustainable consumption research’, international Journal of environment and sustainable development 6, 1, pp.
53–66.
10 see also finlayson, alain (1998) ‘ideology, discourse and nationalism’, Journal of politi-cal ideologies 3, 1, 99–118.
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Welfare nationalism at the meso level might be an instrument to gain control of central power in a state, as is often the case with politi-cal parties. alternatively, it might remain merely an expression of par-ticular ideas without (directly) claiming control of central government, this case frequently occurring with discourses made by representatives of economic or social interest groups. The two most common forms of welfare nationalist discourse at the meso level are instrumental and ideological discourse.11 instrumental welfare nationalist discourse is associated with a general instrumentalist understanding of politics as dominated by the pragmatic, self-interested pursuit of material sources and political advantage. it mostly addresses and tries to re-move the relative socioeconomic deprivation. The ideological welfare nationalist discourse tries to mitigate social heterogeneity by con-structing a simplistic confrontation between the virtuous ‘Us’ and the significant –but at the same time demonised –‘other’.12 By doing so, this discourse often promotes feelings of fear and distrust and engen-ders collectivist prejudicial stereotyping of the ‘other’. in other words, whereas instrumental welfare nationalist discourse can be defined as a reflection of interest, ideological welfare nationalist discourse finds its fulfilment in the pursuit of moral certainty or socioeconomic su-periority of the nation. frequently, welfare nationalist discourses are subject to fragmentation, as competing groups attempt to realise their vision of national welfare interests and ideas.
The macro level of welfare nationalism refers to the political action of national governments, which usually has two main goals. This level
11 see also Brown, david (2004), ‘Why independence? The instrumental and ideological dimensions of nationalism’, international Journal of comparative sociology 45, 3/4, 277–96.
12 ibid. 284.
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includes, first, governmental strategies for maintaining and strength-ening the state, as the most important goal of all national governments is, in nearly all cases, the survival of their states. This goal results from the immanent interest of the state as an autonomous structure in self-maintenance13 and the elimination of functional differentiation between the state units in international politics, or, in other words, their original need to survive.14 hence, every national government is expected to protect and strengthen the institution of the ‘state’ it rep-resents and administrates. This goal becomes particularly important in states with ethnic minorities, in federal multi-ethnic states and in states with severe socioeconomic cleavages between regions with different ethnic settings, hence in states whose political existence or territorial integrity may possibly be endangered by separatist tenden-cies. many actions by which central governments usually respond to these challenges can be regarded as expressions of welfare nationalism, e.g. practices of enforcing socio-economic homogeneity through the introduction of uniform health and labour market insurances, or oc-cupational pension schemes across the whole country,15 and also the
13 for this argument see poulantzas, nicos (1975) political power and social classes, london: Verso, and miliband, ralph (1969) The state in capitalist society, london:
Weidenfeld & nicolson.
14 Waltz, Kenneth n. (1979) Theory of international politics, reading, ma: addison-Wesley.
15 prominent examples include Belgium, Great Britain and canada.
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practices of enforcing interregional financial adjustment16, and the politics of identity-building through an extensive use of national sym-bols related to welfare, or even the emphasis on ‘significant others’
menacing the national economy or social system.
second, the macro level of welfare nationalism might refer to the strategies of the legitimisation of political action related to the ‘pure’
governmental dimension of politics, hence the interest of governments in the maintenance of their domestic power position. The maintenance of domestic power in modern democratic states depends primar-ily on the satisfaction of the socioeconomic interests of society. The central concern of the government of democratic states is therefore to guarantee the continuous supply of the collective socioeconomic goods for which the state is responsible in a national system. These goods include, for instance, macroeconomic stability, social security and socioeconomic equality. for this purpose governments attempt to promote economic growth, the maintenance of or an increase in the employment rate, new tax sources and a balance between conflicting social interests. in democratic systems, these policies must be legiti-mised before the voters and we can speak of macro welfare nationalism if governmental actors legitimise their policies through a discursive commitment to the welfare-related national interests or ideas.
16 one example of such policy is the system of revenue redistribution among the German länder (the so-called financial equalisation mechanism), especially the enormous support for east German regions). another prominent example of this form of welfare nationalism are the vast financial transfers of the italian central government to the southern regions of the country aimed at reducing gaps in socioeconomic development between the northern and southern parts of italy. The reduction of the huge socioeco-nomic differences between the north and the south has been considered as essential for the unity of the italian state. a spectacular example of such policy towards regions with ethnic minorities is the financial aid of the central italian government for the region of south tyrol in northern italy inhabited by a German-speaking majority, which demon-strated separatist tendencies for decades after it had been incorporated into the italian state in 1918.
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The level of supranational effects of welfare nationalism is the fourth level at which we can examine welfare nationalism. however, it is not a level of welfare nationalism, as, because of the theoretical and methodological assumptions, there cannot be any welfare nationalism beyond the level of the nation-state. at this level, we scrutinise how domestic politics (welfare nationalism at the micro, meso and macro level) influence international politics (the so-called second image in international relations theory). The impact of international politics on the domestic level of nationalism (second image reversed in the sense of Gourevitch)17 is examined at the micro, meso and macro levels (as factors coming from outside the nation-state). There are two main su-pranational effects of welfare nationalism. first, there might be conse-quences for the structure of the international system. The structure of the international system is defined in terms of its polarity and anarchy.
polarity is the number of poles of power, that is, the number of great powers in the system. it determines the possibility of the use of rela-tive power resources by single actors.18 anarchy means that there is no authority above states capable of regulating their interactions and potential conflicts. in most cases, states must interact with other states on their own, rather than being determined by a ‘world government’
– a higher-control entity. in realist understanding, because states exist in anarchy, self-help is necessarily the principle of their action. states must rely on their own means to realise their interests.19 as to the consequences of welfare nationalism for polarity, we can argue that, especially in the case of bigger states, the demands of influential
ac-17 Gourevitch, peter (1978) ‘The second image reversed: The international sources of domestic politics’, international organization 32, 4, 881–912.
18 Waltz, Kenneth n. Theory of international politics, 134–7.
19 ibid. 125.
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tors at the meso level for the protection of their economic interests or the national social system (meso welfare nationalism) and the re-spective governmental policies (macro welfare nationalism) towards other international actors might lead to interstate conflicts and even wars.20 Welfare nationalism can also lead to an implosion of multina-tional states with severe socioeconomic differences between the ethnic groups, and the more relevant such states were in the international system, the more significant the changes in polarity are.21 as far as the consequences of welfare nationalism for anarchy are concerned, wel-fare nationalism might belong to factors leading to a stabilisation of or an increase in anarchy. for instance, in the unipolar scenario in which a single great power with nationalist motives in the field of welfare chooses a policy of isolationism and ceases to exercise control of the systemic interactions, the result could be a more anarchic character of international politics. Under conditions of multipolarity, in which several more or less equal powers will try to safeguard their national sovereignty and freedom of action in the realm of welfare against ex-ternal control mechanisms, anarchy will increase. Under conditions of bipolarity, welfare nationalism is of limited importance for the level of
20 here, we might think, for example, of the military interventions of Great Britain and france in the middle east, of military actions of the United states in central america and in the middle east, and of russia in the caucasus, especially in Georgia. The major part of these actions was aimed at securing the supply of the national economy with strategic resources such as oil and gas and advantaging their own national business companies.
21 We might think, for instance, of the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, where the original calls for the dissolution of the state were partially caused by the slovenian and croatian unwillingness to share their more advanced socioeconomic resources with less developed regions like Kosovo, Bosnia and herzegovina or macedonia. We might also draw on the case of the former czechoslovakia, where the dominant czech discourse at the meso level, against the background of having a more advanced economy and better social situation in the czech part of the state than in the slovakian part, advocated the dissolution of the state.
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anarchy because of the structurally determined check between the two great powers as it persisted during the period of the cold War.
The supranational level of the effects of welfare nationalism might also include consequences for the processes of regional integration, which often lead to the emergence of regional subsystems such as the european Union. Welfare nationalism might be a catalyst for integra-tion when relevant actors at the meso level and macro level consider it to be advantageous for their states. Welfare nationalism might also function as a barrier to european integration if ordinary citizens at the micro level and relevant actors at the two other levels expect, in the economic and social realm, more losses than gains from this process.22 Whereas structural changes in the international system may be mainly caused by the welfare nationalism of big powers, in regional subsys-tems even welfare nationalism in smaller states can have significant effects on the political and economic processes.23
in sum, examining welfare nationalism as a complex, multi-level phenomenon does not imply regarding it as a ‘complete’ phenomenon.
The notion of completeness denotes a methodological finality. com-plete phenomena are not subject to change and thus remain methodo-logically self-sufficient –just the contrary to what welfare nationalism is expected to be.
22 for this aspect see for instance Karolewski, ireneusz paweł and suszycki, andrzej mar-cin (eds.) (2007) nationalism and european integration. The need for new Theoretical and empirical insights, new York and london: continuum.
23 for instance, welfare nationalist attitudes at the micro level and meso level in denmark and ireland had important effects on the whole process of european integration. after the rejection of the maastricht treaty in a referendum in denmark in 1992 the treaty had to be renegotiated, and the rejection of the lisbon treaty in a referendum in ireland in 2008 delayed the commencement of this treaty.
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