Does Pride in the Nation Foster Participation? Evaluating the Link between National Identity and Political Engagement across 29 European Societies

This paper aims to understand the relationship between national pride and mass political participation, a central ingredient of democracy. Although the benefits and drawbacks of national pride for the functioning of democracy have been much debated, so far little empirical research has been conducted in this area. In this paper, we suggest that the effect of patriotism should depend on what kind of participation is at issue. National identity implies adherence to prescriptive group norms, which encourage certain types of political participation, most importantly voting, in order to be a ‘good’ national, but discourage other types perceived as less legitimate. Second, we argue that pride in the national group promotes participation through feelings of solidarity and trust, as well as external political efficacy, which encourage collective behaviour. Third, we explore whether cultural diversity and terrorist attacks trigger the association between national identity and political participation. Using data from the 2008 European Values Study, we find support for the first two hypotheses, though inconsistent evidence for the third.