WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/westminsterresearch Transforming identities in Europe: Bulgaria and Macedonia between nationalism and Europeanization Nevena Nancheva School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © The Author, 2013. This is an exact reproduction of the paper copy held by the University of Westminster library. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] TRANSFORMING IDENTITIES IN EUROPE: BULGARIA AND MACEDONIA BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND EUROPEANIZATION Nevena Nancheva A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2012 N. Nancheva Transforming Identities in Europe ABSTRACT This dissertation offers an investigation of the discursive function of national identity in the project of European integration. Its focus is the discursive dynamics created in the context of European Union Enlargement to the former communist states, and its geographical locus is the Balkan region. Exploring the transformations of national identity narratives in two Balkan states – Bulgaria and Macedonia – the analysis aims to uncover the discursive mechanisms of accommodating national identity in the process of empowering Europeanization. In the theoretical and meta-theoretical frame of poststructuralist discourse theory and within the structure of a small-number comparative case study, the investigation selects six narrative groups. They are centred around key elements in the narration of national identity: nationhood, territory, purpose, statehood, language, minorities. Traditionally interpreted within the hegemony of nationalism, these elements are identifiable in the national identity constructs of both of the studied states. Using qualitative methodology based on discourse analysis, the empirical study traces variations in these narratives in the course of the democratic transition and the preparation for EU membership at the macro level – the state. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal the logic of reading national identity within the empowering discourse of Europeanization. The findings demonstrate that the discursive space of the European project upholds a positive, emancipatory, optimistic vision of national subjectivity. Marginalizing antagonistic interpretations of national identity narrated in the discourse of nationalism, Europeanization reveals the potential to significantly increase the credibility of national identity as a source of collective self-iden tification at the level of the state. This can stabilize the discursive space of European integration and ensure the political relevance of the European project. Where nationalist readings of identity succeed in challenging the hegemony of Europeanization, national identity appears more antagonistic and less compatible with the progress of integration in Europe. In this sense reading national identity emerges as the touchstone of the integration project. i N. Nancheva Transforming Identities in Europe SHORT TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I CONCEPTS ......................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I Introduction: Nationalism, National Identity, and European Integration.......2 CHAPTER II Literature Review and Definitions: National Identity Change in the Context of Nationalism and Europeanization ............................................................28 CHAPTER III Conceptual Frame: Discourse Theory and Exploring National Identity.........56 CHAPTER IV Methodology, Research Design, Method: Discourse Analysis and the Stories of Identity .....................................................................................................83 PART II CASES .......................................................................................................................117 CHAPTER V Nationalism as Discursive Context: In Search of Credible Identity .............118 CHAPTER VI Identity Narratives in Bulgaria and Macedonia before Europeanization....139 CHAPTER VII Bilateral Relations and Conflictual Identity ................................................170 CHAPTER VIII Europeanization of Identity Narratives in Bulgaria and Macedonia ..........261 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................288 CHAPTER IX Europeanization and National Identity Change ..........................................289 ii N. Nancheva Transforming Identities in Europe DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I CONCEPTS.........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I Introduction: Nationalism, National Identity, and European Integration................2 Three Academic (Sub-)Disciplines on National Identity......................................................................5 Discourse Theory and National Identity..............................................................................................7 Nationalism and National Identity.......................................................................................................9 Europeanization and National Identity..............................................................................................11 Why Study Conflictual National Identity in ‘Europe’ from the Periphery of Europe?.......................12 National Identity Narratives in Bulgarian-Macedonian Relations.....................................................16 National Identity Narratives and the Hegemonic Struggle between Nationalism and Europeanization................................................................................................................................18 The Logic of Reading National Identity within the Discourse of ‘Europe’.........................................21 Analytical Plan of the Dissertation....................................................................................................24 CHAPTER II Literature Review and Definitions: National Identity Change in the Context of Nationalism and Europeanization.........................................................................................28 The Concept of National Identity......................................................................................................29 The Discourse of Nationalism............................................................................................................35 The Discourse of Europeanization.....................................................................................................41 Conflict and Reconciliation................................................................................................................46 ‘Europe’ and Political Change............................................................................................................47 Exploring Identity Change in ‘Europe’...............................................................................................54 CHAPTER III Conceptual Frame: Discourse Theory and Exploring National Identity................56 Discourse Theory and the Conceptualization of Discourse...............................................................57 Signifiers...........................................................................................................................59 Totalization.......................................................................................................................61 Field of Discursivity...........................................................................................................62 Identities in Discourse......................................................................................................64 Analytical Advantages of Studying National Identity Change through Discourse Theory.................65 iii N. Nancheva Transforming Identities in Europe Function vs Definition.......................................................................................................66 Inevitably Antagonistic vs ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Identities.....................................................67 Negotiable vs Fixed...........................................................................................................69 Recurring vs Anachronistic...............................................................................................70 Applicability of Discourse Theory to Understanding the Role of National Identity in Europe...............................................................................................................................................71 Narrating National Identity...............................................................................................72