A Troublesome Historical Legacy : Nationalism, Integration and Differentiation in Europe

Nationalism and differentiation are two of the hottest topics in the current European politics context. Based on the existing literature, this article seeks to establish what relationship exists between these two phenomena by analysing them from two perspectives: the political science one and the historical one. Thus, the paper discusses the evolution of the institutional structure of the modern state in Europe and shows how this institutional structure was transformed by the European integration process. The main conclusion arising from this paper is that the influence of nationalism in setting the institutional framework of the European states, is one of the key factors to explain the current configuration of European Union as a “system of integrated differentiation”.