Umeå University's logo

In this article, I explore whether, and if so how, national identity affects the level of formal democracy in a country. I theorize and then investigate four assumptions: (i) classical nationalist stances hold that national membership depends on the accident of origin and cultural markers learned by early socialization. This non-voluntary identity gives human beings a natural sense of belonging in society and fosters solidarity and trust that lead to better democracy; (ii) drawing on ideas about core values of ideal democracy the non-voluntarist national identity exhibits an inherent contradiction between in-group bias and intrinsic equality, which leads to lower levels of democracy; (iii) homogeneity in belief about what constitutes national belonging eases the dynamics between majority and minority, which benefits democracy; (iv) the presence of an in-group identity, understood as a shared fellow-feeling, boosts trust and solidarity and thereby benefits democracy. Individual-level data about national identity comes from International Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 2013). Data about democracy comes from Varieties of Democracy (Coppedge et al., 2021; Pemstein et al., 2021). Results indicate that higher levels of non-voluntarist features of national identity are strongly negatively correlated with levels of democracy and heterogeneity in beliefs about what constitutes national belonging relating to a higher level of liberal democracy.

This study investigates the relationship between national identity and democracy. Specifically, it examines how non-voluntary identities, emphasizing common ancestral ties and physical traits, relate to the level of and development in formal democracy, across 63 countries over three decades. We explore both bottom-up effects of national identity and top-down influence of political elites’ nationalist articulation on democracy. The results provide support for the theoretical expectations linking non- voluntary national identity to lower levels of formal democracy. The challenges to democratic governance are further amplified by an interplay between non-voluntary national identity and nationalist political articulation. The longitudinal analyses reveal that countries with a strong non-voluntary national identity experience a greater decline in formal democracy over time, suggesting an inherent incompatibility between such forms of national identity and democracy. The relationship between national identity and formal democracy is a question deeply rooted within the realms of philosophy and political theory. Our study contributes by offering new empirical insights into this relationship.

This article analyzes the interplay between national identity and democracy. Multilevel models were tested using European Value Survey (EVS 2017), which includes 30 countries. On the individual level, emphasis on non-voluntary features of national identity, where national membership depends on the accident of origin, relates to lower support to democracy. At the country level, the level of actual democracy was taken into account (Varieties of Democracy 2017). In general, higher levels of actual democracy correlate with stronger support for democracy, yet, a high level of actual democracy amplifies the negative relationship between non-voluntary national identity and support for democracy. 

This article explores the social mechanisms connecting national identity and support for democracy. Our investigation centers on the mediating role of civic beliefs and participation, employing data sourced from the European Value Survey (EVS 2017), which encompasses a total of 36 countries. First, our findings reveal a positive effect of voluntary (civic) national identity and support for democracy and a negative effect of non-voluntary (ethnic) national on support for democracy. Second, mediation analysis shows that individuals with higher levels of voluntary national identity exhibit stronger civic beliefs and engagement, contributing to pro-democracy attitudes. In contrast, we find that non-voluntary national identity is inversely associated with civic beliefs and participation, largely explaining the negative effect on support for democracy. Although the mediators do not entirely account for the relationship between national identity and pro-democracy attitudes, they are important in shaping the relationship.