Friday, December 4, 2015

The crisis of Europa By Tim Parks

''The largest group most people can think of themselves as belonging to is the nation-state. Here, even in the midst of great diversity, a certain level of common interest and identity is given: the land we share, the laws that govern our lives, the police and armed forces that protect us, our history, our culture. When circumstances change drastically for the nation-state — a famine, a belligerent neighbor, a loss of empire, the discovery of huge natural resources — there is often an intensification of identity, albeit in a process of change.
Unless of course the state was largely an invented entity with no strong internal ties. Then change can bring break-up and a return to older, stronger identities. As it did in Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia. As it threatens to do in Great Britain or Spain..''

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