Nation Branding VS National Identity
When reading these two phrases it is
easy to think that they mean the same thing. However, their meanings are
slightly different. Historian Anna Triandafyllidou defines national identity,
in her article titles “National Identity and the Other,” as “…the whole
perception by each individual of the surrounding world is based on the
distinction between the ingroup, namely the nation, and the foreigners, those
belonging to other communities, the others,” (Triandafyllidou, 593). Essentially,
Triandafyllidou is saying that the national identity of any nation is made up
of the different aspects of the majority population such as culture and language,
and the different aspects of the minority population. Historian Paul Jordan
quotes a definition of nation branding, in his article titled “Nation Branding:
A Tool for Nationalism,” as “the phenomenon by which governments engage in
self-conscious activities aimed at producing a certain image of the nation
state,” (Jordan, 283). Jordan is saying that. This blog post will take the five
performances that were analyzed in the previous blog post and analyze the to
see how closely they resembled the national identity of Switzerland.
Summary of Blog Post One
In my first blog post, I wrote about Switzerland’s
national identity. The important aspects that made up Swiss national identity
were its unique history, and political structure. In addition, the different
languages that are spoken in Switzerland as well as Roman Catholic being the
predominant religion also contributes to Switzerland’s national identity. Many
Swiss historians consider the signing of the Federal Charter in 1291 to be the
date when the people of Switzerland began to come together as a nation and
celebrate this date with high importance. However there have been a growing
number of historians arguing that the date the charter was signed was not the
date that is celebrated. Instead, those historians are arguing that the date is
unknown and Swiss nationals refuse to accept this claim because this date is
very important to their identity as a nation. When it comes to their political
structure, it is unique because the executive branch consists of seven members
who are elected from the four major parties in Switzerland. This is important
to Switzerland’s national identity as it acts as an “other,” which sets
Switzerland apart from other democratic nations. Switching over to the topic of
national language, Switzerland has four national languages which are: French,
German, Italian, and Romansh. Switzerland does not have an official state
religion almost 50 percent of their population are Roman Catholics. This is
important to Switzerland’s national identity because even though they do not
have a national religion, a majority of the population practice Catholicism so
their views towards society could be influenced by their religious beliefs.
Summary of Blog Post 2
In my second blog post, I analyzed
five performances from 2011 to 2015. When looking at all of the performances,
one common theme among them all is idea of love from the Swiss people’s point
of view. Switzerland’s views on diversity can also be seen through the analysis
of these five performances. From 2011 on, Switzerland began to host a national
final where the people in Switzerland picked the performer that would represent
their country at Eurovision. This process at the begin was 100 percent left to
the people to decide, however each year the people have gotten less say on who
they want to represent Switzerland at Eurovision. Switzerland has added jury
votes to count for 50 percent of the total votes and the 50 percent would come
from the people. By doing this, Switzerland has a little more control on the
people they want representing their country.
Switzerland’s national selection
process and Eurovision
The process in which the performers
are selected to represent Switzerland at Eurovision mirrors the national
identity. Beginning in 2011, the performer that would represent Switzerland at
Eurovision was picked through a national final. Unlike national finals in other
countries, Switzerland had each broadcaster select finalists that would
participate in the national final. The Swiss-French broadcaster selected their
finalist internally, the Swiss-Italian broadcaster had a jury select their
finalists, and the Swiss German broadcaster, the main broadcaster, selected
several finalists that would compete in the national final (Eurovision.tv). The
selection process in 2011 relates to Switzerland’s national identity because
when looking at their unique political structure, the executive branch is
evenly split among the four national parties and the Swiss people vote on any
changes to the law. The Eurovision selection process in 2011 is similar because
all three of the Swiss broadcasting stations had a chance to select a finalist
to send to the national final and at the national final, the people had a say
on who they wanted representing them at Eurovision. Anna Rossinelli was
selected by the Swiss-German broadcaster and easily won the national final
whereas finalists selected from the other two broadcasters struggled to earn
votes from the people. The national final selection process in 2012 was
similar. Each of the three broadcasting stations in Switzerland selected
finalists that would compete in the national final. The winner of the 2012
national final, Sinplus, was selected Swiss-Italian broadcaster. This is an
alignment to Swiss national identity because the four national languages in
Switzerland are: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. This selection suggests
that the Swiss people do not mind having a performer who may not speak German
as their primary language. Looking at the 2014 national final winner, Sebalter,
was selected by the Swiss-Italian broadcaster once again. The changes in the
selection which began in 2011 mirrors the unique political structure
Switzerland has as each broadcaster gets a chance to send a land performer to
the national final, and by creating a fair even platform for people living in
different parts of Switzerland to have a chance to compete and represent
Switzerland at Eurovision. The Swiss-German broadcaster is the largest
broadcaster in Switzerland and since German is the primary language spoken in
Switzerland, many people in Switzerland tend to side with this broadcaster. By
having two different national final winners be selected by the Swiss people from
the much smaller Swiss-Italian broadcaster, it suggests that the Swiss people
are open to supporting performers who come from smaller parts of Switzerland.
Switzerland and Tradition
Takasa, the band that was chosen by
the people as well as a jury, represented Switzerland in Eurovision. This was a
band that consisted of six members from The Salvation Army. The Salvation Army
is a Christian Protestant church as well as a charitable organization. The
Salvation Army has been accused of discriminating against the LGBTQ community
in the past. For example, in the early 2000’s, The Salvation Army, attempted to
make a deal with the Bush administration that would exempt them, and other
religious charities who receive federal funding, from laws that discriminated
against homosexuals (Bruni, Becker, New York Times). Although the Salvation
Army is a protestant church, the performance aligned more closely to
Switzerland’s national identity as the group represented similar Christian
ideas that many Swiss people could align with. This performance highlighted the
religious side of Switzerland that is very much present in Switzerland. This
performance suggests that the Swiss people do not mind being branded as a more
religious country compared to their western counter parts. Looking at the 2015
performance, it is about being different than the rest of the population. The
singer, Mélanie René is of Mauritian decent which is a small island in the
Indian Ocean. The choosing of this performance misaligns with Swiss national
identity as they are not too accepting of foreigners or minorities. According to Migration Policy Institute,
Switzerland has a low naturalization rate which means that immigrants are not integrated
into society (Schindall, Migration Policy Institution). By choosing this
performer to represent Switzerland at Eurovision, Switzerland is being branded
as a country that is very accepting of minorities who are not from the EU even
though this is not necessarily true.
Conclusion
After researching Switzerland’s
national identity and then looking at five of their recent performances, you
can see that most of their performances have aligned to their national
identity, but as the years have gone on, their performances have started to
sway away from their national identity. This means that Switzerland is slowly
starting to brand themselves as a more open and accepting nation to minorities
which can be seen with the 2015 performance. Although Switzerland has not done
well historically at Eurovision, these five performances show that they do take
Eurovision seriously as they have gotten more selective by introducing a jury
vote that would count for 50 percent of the total result. By doing this, it
shows that Switzerland is making an effort to change the way their country is
branded to the outside world.
Word Count: 1462
Works Cited
Bruni, Frank, and Elizabeth Becker. “Charity Is Told
It Must Abide By Antidiscrimination Laws.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 10 July 2001,
www.nytimes.com/2001/07/11/us/charity-is-told-it-must-abide-by-antidiscrimination-laws.html?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article.
Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.
Jordan, Paul. “Nation Branding: A Tool for
Nationalism?” Journal of Baltic Studies,
vol. 45, no. 3, 2013, pp. 283–303., doi:10.1080/01629778.2013.860609.
“The Salvation Army - About the Salvation Army.” The Salvation Army - About the Salvation
Army, The Salvation Army, www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/about. Accessed 15
Mar. 2017.
Schindall, Julie. “Switzerland's Non-EU Immigrants:
Their Integration and Swiss Attitudes.” Migrationpolicy.org,
Migration Policy Institute, 9 June 2009,
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/switzerlands-non-eu-immigrants-their-integration-and-swiss-attitudes.
Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.
“Switzerland to Pick Their 2012 Entry in December
2011.” Eurovision.tv, Eurovision, 27
July 2011,
www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=37523&_t=switzerland_to_pick_their_2012_entry_in_december_2011.
Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.
Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the
‘Other.’” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 21, no. 4,
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