Since the 1990s, religion again has come to be increasingly important in the processes of state-formation and nation-building. For example, religion is deeply entrenched in the national identity in Eastern Europe – it is a source of national unity and pride, but also a source of conflicts. Obtaining the status of a national church seems to be linked with state sovereignty and the power of another state, which consequently raises the question about the role that religious independence plays in the processes of national identity-formation.
The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate, within the framework of poststructuralism, how a national identity is constructed using certain identity markers, e.g. religion. The thesis demonstrates that the use of history and othering as a tool for development of national identities by country officials leads to the politicization of faith along ethnic lines. The focus of this thesis is on the national identity-building in Ukraine after the Euromaidan, and in Montenegro, after the introduction of the Law on Freedom of Religion in 2019. Official speeches produced by Poroshenko’s and Đukanović’s administration are analyzed through a methodological framework using discourse analysis, with a focus on the dichotomy of self/other. This thesis demonstrates that the Ukrainian and Montenegrin national identities, constructed under these two administrations, draw upon religious underpinnings, articulated through foreign policy towards significant ‘others’ – namely, Russia and Serbia.
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