In the 1990s, moves towards federalism within the European Union, and the political transition since the collapse of Communism had given rise to a number of developments, such as the resurgence of nationalism and the creation of new nations and alliances which European populations were asked to identify with. These changes posed a number of challenges for social psychology, and provided a highly topical and relevant context for exploring the validity, and extending the limits, of current theories.

In this book, originally published in 1996, reissued here with a new preface, a group of predominantly European academics explore these issues and challenges – primarily through different versions of social identity theory, but also through alternative models such as alienation theory and representational identity theory. This range of approaches made Changing European Identities an extremely useful text for undergraduate and research students, academics and professionals in social psychology at the time. It also provided a valuable and new perspective on people’s reactions to change in Europe for a wide range of social and political scientists and analysts. Today it can be read in its historical perspective.