New Study Reveals that the Nation State Remains Strong

Even in times of globalization, the nation state remains the most important social unit. This was the conclusion drawn by a recent project carried out by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, refuting previous claims that the state is in decline. The project clearly shows that a country’s citizens have more in common with one another than people from culturally related regions spanning several countries – a scenario that applies not least to Bavaria and Austria.

"The state is dead. Long live the state." This saying, which was used in the past to refer to the continuity of

monarchies, has not lost any of its relevance today. Even though the nation state is often said to be dying out in the face of globalization and European integration, a team headed by Prof. Max Haller from the Institute for Sociology at the University of Graz undertook a project entitled "National identity and citizenship", which proved that this is not the case at all. The findings of this project clearly show that the nation state still has high social significance.

SOUND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
A study provided results in three different areas:

First, people still identify most closely with their own country rather than a community, region or higher-level entity, such as the EU. While more than half of those questioned felt a very close connection with their own country, only 30 percent could relate in the same way to the concept of "Europe".
Second, people within a country have the most similar values, as Prof. Haller explains with an example: "As far as values are concerned, Bavarians share more common ground with north Germans than with Austrians. This shows that identification with a nation state is more important than the lower-level regional unit."
Third, state structures and a country’s predominating values play a large part in shaping the views of its inhabitants. This factor becomes apparent when inhabitants are asked to assess the social (in)equality of their own country.

Scientific Contact:
Prof. Max Haller
University of Graz
Institute of Sociology
Universitätsstraße 15/G4
8010 Graz, Austria
T +43 / 316 / 380 - 3541
E max.haller@uni-graz.at

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