The Sources of Values-Based Behaviour Among States. The Example of European Responses to the Refugee Crisis.

This paper examines states’ responses to the recent European refugee crisis in the summer of 2015. By way of analyzing the diverse reactions of governments at the end of the Balkan route, Hungary, Austria, and Germany, it shows how the national identity of countries mattered for political decision-making vis-a-vis the arriving Syrian refugees. Based on this empirical scenario, this research aims to review the sources of normativity in normative political theory critically. To review where the obligation for countries to follow norms comes from, it introduces the work of philosopher Christine Korsgaard to Political Science. Korsgaard’s “self-constitution” refers to the idea that normativity originates from social actors’ active and dynamic role in the constitution of their own identities over time. “Practical identity” -- as the operational manifestation of ‘identity’ within self-constitution -- relates to how social actors would describe a ‘good’ or virtuous version of themselves. Drawing on Korsgaard’s concepts, this paper examines how the process of ‘self-constitution of practical identities’ plays out within countries. When applied to states, self-constitution unfolds through agentic speech acts of political elites yet remains within the structural boundedness of practical identities in culture and historical memory. We argue that this process represents both a neglected source of normativity in political theory and an essential explanation for variation in values-based behaviour between states. To illustrate the heuristic potential of these concepts, we apply them empirically to demonstrate how the practical identities of Germany, Austria, and Hungary shaped their diverse “good” responses to the so-called European refugee crisis in 2015.