(The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions. An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/6747.htm)
A sense of political identity, as defined in this book, is a feeling of belonging to a political unit of governance as defined by a geographical boundary. This can be felt at any level of political subsidiarity, but is perhaps most noticeably effective within a neighbourhood community where people are conscious of living next to each other and sharing local concerns and at national level, where people can identify with a country's history, its language and its distinctive character. A sense of national identity is very different from nationalism, which can cause problems between countries (6.6.4.2) and which may be synonymous with intolerance and divisiveness within a country as was the case with Nazism.
Shared local or national concerns, which might be practical, political or economic, can transcend ethnicity. Americas ethnic melting pot was formed in an inclusive way, with a strong sense of citizenship, national identity and shared values in the pursuit of freedom as new people arrived.[1] National identity can be strengthened by political leaders (6.3.4.1), though it is not easy to inculcate identity if it is not already felt.[2]
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] Francis Fukuyama described American national identity, and its ability to transcend ethnicity, in an article entitled Identity and migration, which was published in Prospect Magazine in February 2007 and was available in May 2014 at http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2007/02/identityandmigration/.
[2] The IPPR report quoted above, Identity, Politics and Public Policy, referred to Gordon Brown's attempt to inculcate a British identity, and pointed out the difficulties of implementing such a policy in a top-down way (p. 10). It was available in May 2014 at http://www.ippr.org/publications/identity-politics-and-public-policy.