The youth shall inherit the earth? : supranational identity-building in socialist Yugoslavia and the EU compared

Abstract

This article focuses on the intention of Youth Labor Actions in former Yugoslavia ‎and the European Solidarity Corps in the EU to contribute to the creation ‎of a Yugoslav and European supranational identity respectively. It does‎ so by analyzing the programs’ evolution, ideological underpinnings, but also ‎implementation modalities. The article argues that both programs, despite being‎ developed in different historical periods, nurtured a similar spirit of solidarity‎ and the idea of work for the common good. Both have had a comparable ‎tendency to create and maintain supranational identities in subtle, but at ‎the same time formalized ways. While following the same principal idea, they‎ differ in the context in which they emerged, their treatment of national identities‎ and the type of ideological baggage they carried. Creation of Yugoslavs‎ ultimately failed, while creation of Europeans is still pending, aggravated by ‎EU’s poly-crisis, politicization of European integration and clashing conceptions ‎of identity within the EU.‎