The Alhambra fortress in the city of Granada is one of Spain.s most characteristic sights. The medieval fortress was placed on Unesco.s World Heritage List on the recommendation of Spain. It was founded by Spain.s Moorish conquerors. This building is an example of the layered structure of national identity: national traditions change through time and are susceptible to external influences. Dutch identity has also been influenced by the fact that the Netherlands operated worldwide as a trading country and had overseas colonies.
National identity is a layered phenomenon in other ways too. In the perception of the inhabitants of a country it can go hand in hand with strong regional bonds. Spain has been one state for a long time: after the expulsion of the Moors in 1492 it became unified, and under the Habsburg emperors, even became a global power dominating over a large portion of Europe and the greater part of South and Central America. Since then, Spanish has been a global language. Nevertheless, many Spaniards feel attached in the first place to their region.
The country is divided into eighteen autonomous regions with a considerable degree of administrative, financial and economic independence. For Basque nationalists this arrangement did not go far enough, so they are attempting to achieve an independent Euskadi by force.
In a world in which states play an important role, a great deal of importance is attached to state formation and to national identity, interpreted as solidarity with the state. But identity forming is a tricky process; Spain is not exceptional in this. Within the United Kingdom too, the regions of Scotland, Wales and England have different identities. For relatively new states in, for instance, Africa, building national identity is certainly a laborious process. Apart from ceding sovereignty to regions, nation-states can also do the same to higher-scale levels. European unification has led to the Netherlands and the other 26 member states ceding substantial competence to the EU in all kinds of policy areas. Despite this fact, a corresponding 'European identity' has still hardly taken shape.
Social identification can link people together and is important for the cohesion of society. Unfortunately, national identity is often politically misused. Creating a national identity often goes hand in hand with opposition to foreigners or to deviant minority groups in the society. The national characteristics of the population then become artificially emphasized. The two World Wars of the twentieth century bear witness to the possible effects of this.
