Reconciliation and Ressentiment: The Role of National Identity in the Norm Diffusion Process

Abstract

Intergovernmental organizations like the European Union use legal documents to disseminate membership and policy norms into potential new Member States’ domestic policies and governance structures. Legal documents may be a successful mechanism to transfer norms at the level of government, however, encouraging citizens to adapt and conform their views on national identity may present a challenge. This challenge is especially strong when a nation requires reconciliation due to recent grave conflict. Croatia, the newest accepted member of the European Union, is experiencing the need for such reconciliation after grave conflict, and presents an opportunity for intergovernmental institutions like the European Union to learn how to successfully enable norm transfer beyond the policy level and through to the social level. This project utilizes Croatia as a case study to demonstrate how specifically integrating the unique conciliatory needs of the domestic public when employing norm diffusion is a necessary improvement to the standard process.