ssrn-id1958177
TRANSCRIPT
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AncaParmenaOLIMID1
Thepoliticsofself-identityintheBalkans.Theroleofchurch-staterelationsinforming
anewcom-union *
AncaParmenaOLIM ID
UniversityofCraiova,FacultyofSocialSciences,PoliticalSciencesSpecialization,Craiova,Romania.
Email:[email protected]
Abstract:Thispaperaims at iden t i fy ing themaintalkingpointsoftheBalkans collective identity assumingthe hypothesis that recognizes its
character of a unique phenomenon. The orientation of the papertowardsabroadercontextofscientificanalysisallowsthepossibilityof
the avoidance of a political, historical, legal, and not least, religious
determ in ismfocusedontheyear1989:themomentofthecollapseofthe communist bloc. The working hypothesis starts from theobservation attributing to the changes ofthe socialpractices.In this
situation,thepaperallowsadetailedexpositionofthetheoreticaland
practicalelementsoftheevolutionandroleofChurch-Staterelationsinforming a collective identity in the Balkans. As to the structural
dimensionofthepoliticalmyth-makingtheanalysisconvergestowardsthe acceptance of the following components: social practices and
relations, national self-conscience and minority condition, religiousfreedomandmigrationexperience.
Keyw ord s: i d e n t i t y , Ba l k a n s , c h u r c h , sta te , com -union .
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heories:
There are two extensive views
on the relationship betweenreligionandpoliticsofmyth-making,providing both either as
complementary to each other or asstructural tied with Balkans recent
democratization.
Furthermore, from our data, we
highlight two main domains of thepresentresearch:
(1) to outline the main
understandings of church, state,politics and religion developed
overthetwentyyears;(2)toarguethat,forourcontext,the
most significant role for arehabilitatedsearchoutofthemoral
and social order is a new collective
sp i r i t ;
Integration Without
Deconfessionalisation in the
Balkansreligiousarena
Over the last twenty years there
hasbeenanunusualproliferationofhistorical, religious and socialliterature, turning into a political
issue, among the Balkans public
o p i n i onaswellasamongacademics,surrounding thesourceof collectiveidentityconstruction.
Thepaperexaminestherelations
between Church and State both at
thetheoreticallevelandthroughtheexperience of the Balkans in the
contextoftheEuropeanintegrat ion.
The main purpose is to examinereligion and the politics of myth-makingwiththeregionalcollective
identityasauniqueunitofanalysis
fortheBalkans.
The nation-as-this and thepeople-as-onetheory
NikosChrysoloras(Departmentof
Government and Hellenic
Observatory, London School ofEconomics and Political Sciences)
suggests that there are, in fact, two
analytical theories surrounding the
constructionofnationalidentityinthe Balkans as particular way
perceivingreality2 .
N evertheless,thistheorypresentsthe dual legitimization of the
discourse analysis and ethno-sym bol ism.Moreover,itdifferentiatesnation as a mode of conceiving thepolitical identity based on the
reinterpretation of preliminary
observations of constructs such as
nat ion-as-this and the people-as-one 3 .
There are many academics that
encourage this framework. Steven
Majstorovic provides significantinsightsintotherelativepoliticization
of the relation between religion andcollectiveidentity.
In the preliminary stage, the
authorofferstothosewhostudythe
problem of institutional relations
between Church and State in theBalkansthepossibilitytoexaminethe
ethnonational identity, suggesting as
working hypothesis a new
interpretation within the context ofmodernizationofnation-staterelationin Europe: while Europe was
evolving the nation-state system,Eastern Europe, including the
Balkans,wasdominatedbyasystem
of empires that restricted the
political options of ethnonationalactors4 .
T
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The second part of its analysis
starts with presenting short data
related to the emergent
understandings of church andpolitics that can be used as a
necessary analysis limited to the
Balkans perception. Moreover, asTodorova writes, this conf igurat io ncreatesakindofbalancethat
prevents the establishment of
double standards concerning the
Balkansrevivalprocessspeech.
T heexperiencehasprovedthatinthe reality of national identities, therelation Church-State arbitrarilyselects symbols, memory,experiences, myths and creates
ideas5 ..
Figure1 .Thenation-as-thisandthepeople-as-onetheory
Respectively, this quite fragile
balance is not based on equalpossibilities of nations Essenti ally,the national issues appeals to
collective memory and traditional
values among which religiousidentificationunitedregionalpolitical
corpus and dealed with real
difficulties in the sense ofmethodologicaldimensions.Butwhat
exactly explains the difference
between nation-as-this andpeople-as-one? Two set of
arguments are generally offered to
explainbestthisapproach.- ( a) One set refers to
historical, political and legal
components onthe theorythatmost
of the Balkan state are analyzed asb elonging to Easter OrthodoxChristendom. The best synthesis of
this approach is found in BideleuxandJeffriessclaimthattoexplainthe
divergentpathofnation-as-thisandpeople-as-one 6 .
This theoretical explanationconcerns religion and the so-called
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civilizational process in terms of
particular characteristic and
independent values in the Balkans.
Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffriesargue that rather than being
fundamentallyalienoressentially
different, the post -communistBalkans have been a microcosm of
Europe as a whole and a very
revealing mirror in which Western
and Central Europeans have beenuncomfortably reminded of the
dangerous current.7 . On the
backgroundofthesegeneralremarks,today there is the interest in the
aesthetic attachment of religiousexpression of Orthodoxy seeking to
bringintofocustwoelements:- (1) what religion offers as moral
supporttopeopleand
- (2) perceptions of the Orthodoxreligion as it is practiced in theBalkans. Furthermore, the strong
b on dbetweentheChurchandthenation of Orthodoxy is based on
the principle which gives theOrthodox Churchthecharacterof
nationalChurch. In such a volatile atmosphere,
eventsandpossiblescenariosforthe
comingyearscouldgoinanynumber
of directions. The conflicts that
marked and followed the territorialfragmentation of former Yugoslavia
betrays an exalted and isolationist
view of the general agreement over
the fundamental rethinking of peaceagreements, borders of emerged
states, process of ethnic
reconciliation.Inthesamecontext,afiner analysis of the political and
religious phenomena in Europe
would point a more nuanced
perception of the encounter ofOrthodoxywiththemulticulturaland
plural perspective of the European
society.
Before analyzing a public
discourserelatedtotheimpactofthenat ion-as-this and people-as-onein the context of the European
multiculturalism,letusreflectbrieflyon the particular evolution of the
church-state in the Balkans. In thiscontext,themainstreamdiscussionof
Balkan collective identity followsHarakas argument according to
whichthistopichastobedeveloped
under five headings: EuropeanMultiformity, Cultural Values and
European history, Fears and Hope,InsightsfromtheOrthodoxChristian
social ethic, and recent orthodoxapproaches to European religious
p lu ra l i sm 8 .A strict position on these five
matters is impossible in practicalterms. Theoretically thinking it is
possible to suggest some factors
whixhcontributetotheredefiningof
Europesculturalandpracticalimagein this perspective: type of political
collective identity and the tendencytoreplaceexistinggeo -politicisationwithgeo-culturalisation of Europeani d e n t i t y 9 . In this context,thesis about the collective identity
and the challenge of an axiologicalpluralism in new Europe
establishes an associative European
dem ocr acy viable to the spiritualrealities of current Balkans. Thispositiontriestosettleawaybetween
t h e poles represented by state,
church and ind iv idua ls ; it reaffirmsthe primordial character of group
identity and considers the
organization of Church as essential
feature of contemporary Europeansociety.
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- ( b ) The second set ofexplanations focuses on stat e-building problems and the role of
political actors. Based mainly on thework of Richard Farkas, this
theoretical approach looks at the
public opinion polls suggesting thatCentral and East European argue
they have some trust or a lot of
trust in government (around 40%)
significantly below the Churchaverage(around60%)10 .Formuchof
the past twenty years analysts and
academics have argued whetherBalkans suffers from a crisis of
identity combined with a
institutional deficit. Regarding the
t r ends in citizens satisfaction withtheir political, social, legal and
religious institutions, avarious framework emerges from the
Western Balkans. Gallup Balkan
Monitor releasedin November 2009shows that while in Albania, Kosovo
and Montenegro between 18%
(Albania) and 50% (Albanian in
Kosovo) of the citizens havea lot ofconfidence in their church;
concerning the governments
performance the level of confidenceisaround20%-30% 11 .
Chart1.Levelofconfidenceingovernmentsperformance(Gallu pBalkanMonitor2009)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Poor Only fair Good Excellent
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Recent understandings of
collective identity and axiological
pluralism the Balkans. The we-
identitytheoryOther account of different
strategies and points of view of
political condition of the church inthe Balkans comes from the
intellectuals which preferred the
public discourse and the impact of
EUs fundamental institutionalreformofassubjectsofanalysisfor
theessentialistpatternofcollective
identityconstructioninthenewEUmembers. Not surprisingly, this
theoretical framework reinforce theimportance of the first theory
nat ion-as-this and the people-as-one, providing a pluralistic
argument in the context of the
arguesthatthereis,infact,astrongtendencydisplayedbybothnewand
oldEuropeanstoidentifythemselves
toalargeextentaccordingtoawe-identity perception12 . Europeanintegration is, without any doubt, a
process implying an exam of themeeting inmentalities,eventsand
terms between the old Europanre g io n al democracy and thecosmopolitan imprint1 3 . Practically,
onemightwonderwhether,followingthe collapse of communist collapse,
there is a new state of spirit, a new
mentality,ascharacteristicfeatureof
theEuropeaninstitutionalreform1 4 .While not necessarily embracing
other skeptical assumptions, t h i s
points t w o basically normative levelsas provocations to recent empirical
researches:- (1)toindicatethemainpatterns of European integration in
connectionwithotherstypesofsocialandpoliticalrepresentation15 ;
- (2) to emphasize a commonperceptionofpoliticaltransition:a
growingsenseofvulnerabilityand
fear, dreams of a new Europeanreligious policy as a given
prefigurative interactionism at
theindividualandcollectivelevel.F u r t hermore, according to Detrez
and Plas it is interesting to observe
thatintheBalkans suchdivergences
are tobe individualizedatthe levelof the intellectual building of the
nationalidentity,notonlyintermsof
an alterity vis--vis other nationalg ro u p s16 .
Atthesametime,thewe-identitytheory contributes to the
understanding of the Balkansspiritualitycharacterizingthe2000s,
by reconstructing the importance of
national and regional
transformations,butmostofallofthecultural and religious ones. As this
stage of our study, Klaus Eder
pointed the particular commonness
as a major condition of a collectivei d e n t i t y 17 .Inadditiontothefeatures
outlined by Detrez and Plas, Ederreflects a theoretical/practicalreality, an idealistic-abstract hopeand social differences arguing the
balancebetweentheneedofnational
identity unity and danger offragmentation. As mentioned before,
the we-identity theory emphasizesthe differences of the main ethnic
criteria origin, language andr eligion in the context of theEuropean integration18 . The current
tendency of we-identity finds theright measure ( le juste milieu)betweentheperspectiveofEuropean
integration and Balkans mythical
exper ience1 9:pollsshowthatreligionisgainingimportanceformostethnic
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groupsintheWesternBalkans.Thus,
the new tendency of we-identitytheory fights the millenary ideas of
western church on two generalcharacteristics: a theoretical one,
whichseesthehumanbeingdenying
its relation with the traditional axle
andap r a c t i c a l one,whichsubstitutesthetraditions,excludes thepresence
of religion which no longercorresponds to new tendencies of
culturalandpoliticalworld.
Figure2.Thewe-identitytheory
ConclusionsThe consequence of this
orientation is the spiritual crisis of
Christianity, of individuals wish to
discoverspiritualfreedomtocreatea
postulatedculture,solelycenteredontherationalego.
A Gallup Poll (Gallup Balkan
Monitor)releasedin2010found,forexample, that Serbia was one of the
countries where religion played the
major role in everyday life (more
thanhalfofrespondents)20 .
At the same time in Bosnia andHerzegovina, religious institutions
remained the most trusted
institutions for individuals (6 % in
2 0 1 0 ) 2 1 .The same survey witnesses an
increasing interest regarding the
religious organizations and,especiallyinreligion,aspartoftheir
dailylife(from33%in2006to44%
in2010)22 .
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Chart2.SummaryofFindings(GallupBalkanMonitor- comparativeanalysis
2 0 0 6 / 2 0 1 0 )
Ackn ow ledgem ent This work was supported by the strategic grant POSDRU/89/1.5/S/61968,Project ID61968(2009), co-financedbytheEuropeanSocialFundwithintheSectorialOperationalProgramHumanResourcesDevelopment 2 0 0 7 - 2 0 1 3 " .
NOTES:1 Partsofthispaperhavebeenpresentedat the International Conference M Y T H SOF T H E OT H ER I N T HE BALKANS.REPRESENTATIONS, SOCIAL PRACTICESAND PERFORMANCES, 24-26 February2011. Organisers: University of
Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece underthe title Anca Parmena Olimid, Religionand the Politics of Myth-Making in the
Balkans: the Role of Church-StateRelationsinformingaCollectiveIdentity.2 NikosChrysoloras,OrthodoxyandGreek
NationalIdentity.AnanalysisofGreek
Nationalism in light of A. D. SmithsTheoretical Framework , KokkalisProgramonSoutheasternandEast-
Central Europe available at
ht tp :/ / w w w .hk s.harv ard .edu/ k ok kali s/ GSW 7/ GSW % 206 / N ik os% 20Chr ysolor as%20Paper.pdf,pp.1- 1 0 .3 Ibi dem ,pp.7 - 8 .4 Steven Majstorovic, Religion andCollective dentity: The EthnopoliticalBarriers to Democratization in the
B a l k a n s in Willian Safran (ed.), The
Secular and the Sacred. Nation, Religionand Politics, London, Frank Cass, 2003,
pp.169-187.5 MariaTodorova(ed.),BalkanIdentities.NationandMemory,London,C.Hurst&Co.,2002,p.9.
0
2 0
4 0
6 0
8 0
1 0 0
2 0 0 6 2 0 10
Macedonia Albanians Macedonia Macedonians Kosovo Albanian
Kosovo Serbs BIH Serbs BIH Croats
BIH Bosniaks Croatia Montenegro
Serbia Albania
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6 Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries, The
Balkans. A Post-Communist History, NewYork,Routledge,2007,pp.5- 1 0 .7 Ib idem,p.5.8 Stanley Samuel Harakas, E ur opeanM u l t i f o r mityandDimensionsofOrthodoxChristian Social Ethics in George P.
Liacopulos (ed.), Church and Society,Boston, Ma.,Somerset HallPress, 2007,
pp.265- 2 6 7 .9 Grzegorz ollective identityandthechallengeofaxiologicalpluralisminthenewEuropeinMagdalenaGraand
Collective Identity
and Democracy. The Impact of EUEnlar gem ent , ARENA Report No 4/10,RECON Report No. 12, Oslo, October
2010,pp.64- 6 6 .1 0 Richard P. Farkas, Democratization inthe Balkans. Prescription for a Badly
Scarred Body Politic, Northeastern
UniversityPress,UPNE,2008,pp.40- 4 5 .1 1 Gallup Balkan Monitor. Insights and
Perceptions: Voices of the Balkans in
partnershipwiththeEuropeanFundforthe Balkans,2009 Summary of Findings
available at ht tp :/ / w w w .balkan-m oni t or .eu/ f i les/ BalkanM onit or -2009_Summary_of_Findings.pdf, pp. 25-2 7 .1 2 Grzegorz op.cit.,pp.63- 6 5 .1 3 Ib idem,p.61.1 4
Georgescu,
securitateastatelornspatialeuropean nActele Simpozionului
Peur opean, Ed i tu ra Libertatea, Panciova,2009,pp.66- 7 5 .15Ibi dem .1 6 Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas (eds.),Developing Cultural Identity in the
Balkans. Convergence vs. Divergence,
Brussels,P.I.E.-PeterLang,2005,pp.214- 2 1 5 .1 7 Klaus Eder, Remembering National
Memories Together: The Formation of a
TransnationalIdentityinEurope inKlausEder, Willfried Spohn (eds.), Collective
Memory and European Identity. The
Effects of Integration and Enlargement,
Burlington,Ashgate,2005,pp.198- 1 9 9 .18 For a comparative analysis, see
Tsvetana Georgiev, The Balkans An
ethnic andcultural crossroadsin Councilof Europe Press, The Balkans ethnicand cultural crossroads: educational and
cultural aspects, Strasbourg, Council ofEuropePublishing,1997,pp .29-31.19 Fo r a general overview, seeDeclaration on European Identity(Copenhagen Summit, 14 December1 9 7 3 ) , December 1973,No. 12, pp. 118-122. The Declaration introduces the
concept of a common identity in theEuropean diplomacy, Bulletin of the
European Communit ies. It also
contributes to the establishment ofcherishedvaluesbasedontherespectoflegal, political and moral order and
preservationofnationalcultures.20 Gallup Balkan Monitor. Insights andPerceptions: Voices of the Balkans in
partnershipwiththeEuropeanFundfor
the Balkans,2010 Summary of Findingsavailable at http://www.balkan-m oni t or .eu/ f i les/ BalkanM onit or -201 0_Sum m ary _of_Fin din gs.pd f, pp. 16-2 8 .21 Ib idem,p.28.22 Ib idem,p.10.
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