Abstract
A European identity pattern able to both include and constantly produce “unity in diversity” must not be build only “from above”, i.e. by the EU and its nation states, but also “from below”, e.g. by its regions which in many cases are closer to the people. Particularly border regions with often trans-cultural traits and inter-ethnic histories are among Europe’s most promising laboratories on a small – and therefore rather concrete and practical – level to start building a European identity context. This includes both an atmosphere and a habitual and legal framework of what is called “civil religion”, i.e. a joint meta-identical identification pattern for a unified European aspiration. According to EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (2017), among the EU’s border regions with special statute “South Tyrol is the best model of multiethnic pacification and transnational integration in Europe that we have”, including cultural identities. Here, “Autonomy Patriotism” is a new, programmatic concept of civil religion dedicated to implement an overarching secular sense of belonging to a territory while at the same time not going against more traditional ethnic identity concepts. At the same time, meta-ethnic identity is not conceived as post-ethnic or post-cultural identity. The presentation will discuss the concept of “Autonomy Patriotism” in light of potential trajectories regarding more fluid “consociational” identity concepts in Europe, particularly with regard to their role for European unification and integration. Among the three main questions to discuss is first, whether “Autonomy Patriotism” may become part of the greater trend towards “weak cosmopolitism” – as opposed to the “strong cosmopolitism” that characterized the European mainstream since the 1990s.