Constructions of the Nation State: Public Narratives in the Aftermath of a Human Rights Violation

• In Event: 505 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Nationalism, Historical Memory, and Reconciliation

Abstract

In the globalization debate, human rights are considered a pre-eminent terrain for studying the complex phenomenon of the role of the nation state within a globalized world. While from a cosmopolitan perspective, human rights have become a legitimate instrument to protect all individuals against atrocities by the state, numerous human rights violations show that nation states do not surrender their powers completely. This paper aims to further explore this phenomenon by advancing a contextual-cultural approach to the study of human rights. More specific, we focus on the discursive contestations that evolved in the media between civil society and political actors on multiple levels in the aftermath of the Čonka v. Belgium case in 1999. The analysis for this specific human rights violation reveals that three narratives were developed that constructed the role and identity of the Belgian nation state in terms of an accusation, justification and glorification. Furthermore, these narratives were linked to (unexpected) associations between civil society and political actors on different levels. These findings point to the very complex and multiple ways in which the role of the nation state in Europe is constructed, as well as to the multitude of actors involved in this process.

Authors

• Chloë Delcour, Ghent University

• Lesley Hustinx, Ghent University