ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 (“Beyond the State-of-the-Art”) identifies relevant research questions that have not been addressed yet in scholarly work on European identities. Above all, this concerns European ethnic minority groups and their identities: They are considered of particular interest for learning more about identification processes because due to their membership of a particular ethnic minority group and their connection to their titular nation, they have a more diverse set of geographically ethnically politically (GEP) identities, and they might use European identity to unite those into an comprehensive hybrid identity. Ethnic minority groups are also specifically addressed by EU policies, which might contribute to stronger identification. The chapter argues that ethnic identities can be seen as a missing link for explaining relationships between different GEP identities and that investigating ethnic minority populations leads to the expectation of new insights regarding the political, cultural and/or instrumental content of European identity and its emergence. Furthermore, the chapter explains the relevance of using both quantitative and qualitative empirical methods.
