| dc.description.abstract | IDENTITY AND INCLINATION TOWARDS INTEGRATION. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUSTRIA AND NORWAY.
On the 12th of June, 1994, the Austrian electorate voted with a 66,4% majority to become a member of the European Union. On the 28th of November of that same year, the Norwegian electorate voted by a majority of 52,3% to remain outside of the EU. This demonstrates a remarkable difference in the attitudes towards integration between the Austrian and Norwegian peoples.
The political debates in the mass media leading up to the referendums were dominated by economical, peace-keeping issues. It is a precondition to this thesis that the voters have other needs besides pragmatic ones. They have a need for identity, belongingness and roots. These needs may be due, to a great extent, to a nation's historical experiences.
This thesis deals with topics such as national consciousness, identity, and inclination towards integration. The dependent variable is the "yes" or "no" response by the voters. There are a number of independent variables contributing to this decision. One of them, is the "identification" variable which is explored in this thesis. The scope of this paper, however, does not include how great an impact this independent variable has on the dependent variable but rather concentrates on what this particular independent variable is.
This thesis conducts a comparative study of two "most different" cases. It analyzes and compares how the general public from both these two nations perceive their nation's integration experiences. Does this perception instill an inclination towards integration? Does this perception implant a positive or negative attitude towards integration? Is this attitude, whether positive or negative, connected to predominantly pragmatic or psychological issues? Is there a connection between this attitude and the nation's role (ie. whether dominant or non-dominant/equal) in the integration? This thesis explores what is the identity of the Austrian and Norwegian peoples? It asks the question ,"what is the we-feeling of the people from these two countries"? To what degree are the differences between the Austrian and Norwegian electorates understanding of their nation's previous integration experiences? To what degree are the differences between the Austrian and Norwegian electorates understanding of their nation's role in Europe and the world?
Theories Used: One of the most classical contributions on integration in Political Science is the one on "Security Communities" in "Political Community at the International Level" by Karl W. Deutsch and it is the basis for the considerations in this paper. This thesis explores two aspects of Deutsch's theory, psychological role-taking and assimilation. In this context, the term most worth investigating, is the term "we-feeling". What "we-feeling" do the Austrians have? What "we-feeling" do the Norwegians have?
Other theories briefly referred to in this paper are:
* Scotoni and his theory regarding collective heritage
* Rokkan & Urwin's theory on center/periphery vs nationalism
* Inglehart's "post-materialistic" vs "materialistic" theory
* Haas's contributions on integration
Methods Used: The methods used in this paper are a comparative, historical, and qualitative study. The problem approach has been operationalized through the use of a set of history school books for each of the cases. The qualitative method which has been used is two-fold: a whole text analysis and a sentence analysis. The two cases have been compared and pattern-matched towards parts of the Deutsch's theory.
Conclusion: There is a striking contrast between the "we-feeling" of the two cases. The Norwegians have a definite national "we-feeling". On the contrary, the empiricism indicates that the Austrians have a weaker national identity and a stronger local "bundesland" and European identity. The empiricism shows that the history school books from the Austrian case transmit a more positive inclination towards integration than the Norwegian case. Deutsch's theory on psychological role-taking and assimilation have been strengthened by the analysis of the empirical data in this thesis. | nor |