Your search

"Since all the nations have flags, and the UN has a flag, and states and businesses have flags, maybe there ought to be a flag that's just for people." -- John McConnell, Earth Flag advertisement, Whole Earth Catalog, 1971

This chapter first examines the history and role of the Bulgarian flag in the constitution of Bulgarian national identity, a process which began in the second half of the nineteenth century. It then proposes a semiotic model of the identity, one that centers its constructed character and flexibility while performing social interactions. A basic divide between the communicative resources of the self places a person’s individual characteristics in opposition to collective ones. The national flag and colors are interpreted among the expressive forms of the collective identity, in the subcategory of constitutive features for which an individual has no choice. An interpretation of the value flows for identity in social intercourse follows, modeled as an “ego economy” where the reception and production of recognition from and for others is seen as an “ego currency”. This model demonstrates that the particular efficacy of national symbols is amplified by the efficacy of the “nationalist libido”. The use of the nationalist flags, colors, symbols, and narrative in new media thus prepare a fertile ground for the emerging digital populism, one that is masterfully employed by right-wing figures with significant political results and disquieting prospects for the future.

This paper is a semiotics analysis of national symbols, especially national flags, seeking to insert its emergence in the context of the formation of the modern National States. The methodological approach is critical and interdisciplinary, capitalising on the contributions of Semiotics, History, Sociology and Philosophy. The flag of Brazil is analysed in a detailed manner, as a complex symbol, formed of shapes, colours, natural elements and words. From the historical point of view, the flag of Brazil is a symbol, which safeguards the past of the Brazilian Empire inside the symbol of the Republic of Brazil. From the semiotic point of view, one can see in the plan of expression a set of symbols, which allows us to realise the level of significance, there lying the dialectical conflicts of the history of Brazil. From the point of view of the current political scene, it seeks to analyse the new and main role played by the national flag, in its re-emergence among many demonstrations, and the rebirth of nationalism, within the context of economical, moral and political crises. This allows us to assess the meaning of Brazilian modernity and its future challenges.

This chapter explores philosophical and semiotic considerations pertaining to the relation between word and color and some of its social effects in four steps. 1. Flag. A first step concerns the flag as a social symbol made by fixed varieties of colors. Its colors refer to social patterns, in Occidental culture formatted along the classical theory of social contract and its individualistic, mechanistic and rationalistic features. Displacement and togetherness seem deeply engraved in the mind of the flagging individual(s), a mind often at far distance from any specific flag-event. 2. Colors. The second step is on colors and the slogan ‘colors like words’. The central question regards the words, which should serve as a parallel to colors. If a color depends on a linguistic expression, then the basis of that expression is important for color and color-experience. 3. Speech. The third paragraph emphasizes the study of the word by means of considering ‘speech’. Basic is the difference between langue and parole. ‘Word’ understood as langue functions in the slogan ‘colors like words’ whereas ‘word’ understood as parole is neglected. ‘Speech’ as the context for ‘word’ is therefore researched as a source of word–color semantics. 4. Digit. ‘From langue to parole’ is not a single static path amidst differing contexts. Recent mutations concern digital language as a future global context: (a) names play a new and different role in digital language structures, as the Internet and its multiple use of names and passwords daily demonstrates; (b) codes, in particular color codes, function like words and texts, as the website ‘electronic color code’ suggests; (c) communication unfolds beyond the limits of human will and attention; (d) the concept of O/other, the most vital component of human life and communication, does not remain unchanged in a life based on digits.

Flag use by far-right demonstrators at the 2017 Unite the Right rally is similar to historical flag use in public demonstration by antidemocratic groups seeking to deprive others of equal democratic rights, such as the Nazi Party between 1920 and 1945 and American segregationists during the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-twentieth century. This sort of flag use brings democratic values such as free speech and equal protections into conflict. Since World War II, international democratic norms have shifted to emphasize human dignity and equality, even if it requires limitations on free speech. Germany’s constitutional order is designed to protect democracy from antidemocratic groups in part by criminalizing display of flags representing them. Meanwhile, free speech absolutism in the United States makes it exceedingly difficult to impose legal sanctions for flag use, allowing flags that are in fact hate speech to masquerade as protected political speech.

The chapter provides semiotic analysis of national flags in Russia in historical perspective and describes legal regulation of the use of flags as state symbols on federal and federal entities’ levels. Contemporary white-blue-red national flag, Soviet red flag and imperial black-yellow-white flag are analyzed in different contexts, as official state symbols and as unofficial symbols of different political movements; the evolution of their meaning with time is shown. Subjects of the Russian Federation also have their flags, which reflect their aspiration for self-identification and sovereignty within the limits of common political identity of the nation. The right to establish their own official symbols is a part of their constitutional status, and they realize this right for the construction of their regional identity within the semiotic space of Russia as a whole.There is no unity in approaches to the fixation of the legal status and description of flags on the level of federal entities, though main legal rules concerning the use of flags and subordination between the national flag and the flags of federal entities are stipulated by the federal law. Most of regional flags have been created since 1991, because these regions had no status of federal subjects before that. By their visual representation the flags differ depending on the cultural and historic characteristics of the regions. Some of them resemble the regional coat of arms, some of them try to follow the federal model by using bars of different color, some include religious symbols.Legal regulation of the use of flags includes constitutional standards, statutory standards and also provisions of criminal and administrative law on desecration of flags and on inappropriate use of the national flag, which may humiliate or publicly demonstrate disrespect for it. The judicial practice in application of these standards is, however, confusing, because the provisions lack legal certainty.

After an outline of the history, design and uses of the Australian flag, this paper considers the media frenzy and public outcry surrounding the publication of research findings identifying a relationship between the flying of Australian flags on cars for Australia Day and racist attitudes. While the findings did not surprise many social scientists, given the semiotics of the flag and its increasing use as a symbol of exclusion, they were apparently highly contentious for portions of the Australian public. This paper describes and analyses the public reaction using three case studies from among the hundreds of examples. An email, a blog discussion, and a newspaper article, are analysed to demonstrate overlapping themes focussed on racism, patriotism, and nationalism. The chapter concludes that the publicity flagging the relationship between flag use and exclusionary nationalism actually may have worked against the goal of producing a considered debate about appropriate forms of nationalism and flag use, delivering the flag into the hands of exclusionary nationalist.

Both the flags of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China’s (ROC) have the colour red; however, red represents different meanings on both flags. The colour red on the ROC flag represents “fraternité” originated from the French Revolution. The colour red on the PRC flag is from the flag of The Soviet Union, which the colour red is originally the colour of the flag of La Commune de Paris. There have been many incidents involving the desecration, burning or damaging of the national flag of the Republic of China (ROC, 中華民國) over the years. In Taiwan, some people think that the ROC has ceased to exist since 1949, and that the ROC can no longer represent Taiwan and the KMT (the Nationalist Party, Kuomintang) is controlled by the PRC. They use flag desecration as a means to attack one China policy and the PRC. In this paper, I will explore the reason why the ROC national flag has been targeted in Taiwan, and question whether or not damaging the flag is really a meaningful and successful way to attack both the ROC and the PRC. Furthermore, I will explain how protesters attack the PRC by attacking the ROC flag by way of a discussion of the colour code of both national flags. In addition, I will discuss the meaning of the red on both flags, and I will also explain why an attack on the ROC flag, based on the colour of the ROC and PRC flags, is not a successful way to attack the PRC.

This chapter looks at the role of flags as national symbols in Hungary. It does so through three case studies. The first flag discussed is the current national colours (red, white and green). It is followed by the so-called ‘Árpád stripes’ (red and white), the colours attributed to the first royal dynasty of Hungary. Finally, the flag of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, is examined from a historical perspective, with special focus on its relationship with the national colours.

All states have a flag, the material symbol of their sovereignty. But in law, the status of this flag differs from one country to another: some incorporate it into their Constitution (France), others do not (U.S.A., Great Britain) and the protection against insults differs from one country to another. The legal status of the French flag has varied over an eventful history, but today the constitutional recognition of the symbol and its legal protection allow the strong representation of French sovereignty and the rights to which the nation is attached. However, the flag of the European Union competes with the French flag. In conclusion, the flag is both sacred and competitive, as it is the national anthem, which is given constitutional protection in France.

This paper aims to find the commonness in tangible-intangible cultural heritage among the three flags (South Korea, North Korea, Unification) as a means for uniting Korea. Accordingly, theories of emotions, colours and shapes, including semiotic interpretations are its methodology. Semiotics offers flexibility in finding the commonness between the three flags in different situations and describes the process of encoding and decoding as an interpretative framework. Decoding interprets and evaluates the meaning concerning the relevant signs, which are systems of related conventions for correlating signifier and signified in specific domains. (i) The South Korean flag has three parts composed of a white rectangle, a red-blue circle, Taeguk, and four black trigrams. White is a traditional colour of representing peace and purity; the red-blue circle in the middle is the Yin-Yang philosophy of the universe. The red half is positive forces and the blue half negative ones. In 1882, King Kojong of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) instructed a circle which combines the red/king, blue/officer and white/people. (ii) The North Korean flag consists of a red panel, bordered by a white stripe and a blue stripe. The red panel contains a red star, a symbol of communism and socialism within a white circle. The red expresses revolutionary traditions; the blue for sovereignty, peace and friendship; the white for purity. (iii) The Unification flag represents a united Korea as one team in sports events. On the white background, a blue silhouette of the Korean peninsula appears in the centre.

In the passage of the Course in General Linguistics where Ferdinand de Saussure first foresaw the necessity to develop a new discipline called “semiology”, “nautical flags” are prominently listed among its objects of inquiry. Flags, indeed, are naturally interesting objects for semiotics, not only because they signify through a systematic display of forms and colors, but also because of the specific pragmatics of such display. A flag can be thought of abstractedly, as an array of symbols, but it features also a specific materiality, wherein two elements particularly stand out: (1) the flag is generally a textile; (2) this textile is meant to interact with a natural element, the wind. Flags are so symbolically important also because they seem to acquire an individual agency when they wave in the wind, and therefore to confer this autonomous agency to the cultural ideas which they stand for. The paper investigates this particular semiotics in relation to opposite ideological usages of the Italian national flag, meant to signify an either inclusive or exclusive identity.

This essay endeavours to explore our time of ‘Law &…’ (and its stimulating boundary disputes) from the perspective which national flag narratives—and their typifying regimes, associated with plausible models or paradigms of nation—allow us to experience, whilst projected onto (or within) the Law’s (or a certain Law’s) identifying narratives. Even though concentrated on a specific exemplum—the one of the current Portuguese flag (which emerged out of the successful Republican revolution of 1910)—this proposal is less however a justification of a new, plausible, interdisciplinary trend (involving ethno-symbolic studies), than a consideration of the ‘Law’s place’ in our present-day practical-cultural context, whilst reflecting on the possibilities and limits of hetero-references in general and “Law &… movements” in particular.

Scotland is to the United Kingdom what the Saltire is to the Union Flag. What it means to be Scottish, what form Scottish identity takes, and how the narratives of Scottish identity and belonging have been constructed and have evolved over time is a story woven into the relationship between these two flags. One a symbol of national identity and the other the symbol of a much larger intranational unity, the history of their coming together is one of negotiated settlement, legal and political compromise, a balancing of competing claims for legitimacy and control over the historical discourse. This chapter explores the origin of the Saltire as the national flag of Scotland, its emergence in symbolic representation of resistance to English power and domination, and the struggle between these two nations that is mirrored in the eventual configuration of the Union Flag. The chapter then traces the shifting contours of the social, cultural, and political landscape of Scotland through various narrative ideologies to demonstrate how the contemporary debate over national identity is symbolised in the complex colour-coded representations of these two flags.

Identity and the protection of identity due to the historical turmoil experienced by the nation of Poland has always played an important role in the public and private lives of its citizens. During the course of history Poland also served as an exile and home for many minorities, both religious and ethnic. The country, which is located between the two powerful nations of Germany and Russia, has always been forced to fight for independence and its national identity. In the course of history the country disappeared from the maps of Europe for about 123 years as a result of the partition of its territories between Prussia, Austria and Russia. The invading countries occupying the annexed territory forbade the usage of the Polish language in numerous areas of life. The practising of Polish customs and traditions was also limited. Poland regained independence after numerous attempts in 1918, only to lose it again in 1939 and finally to have it re-established in 1945. But the period from 1918 until 1939 was marked with numerous activities aiming at the restoration of national identity. The main aim of this presentation is to provide some insight into the importance of national identity as well as the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of Poland as a historically conditioned phenomenon. The language protection policy will also be examined.

The symbolic functioning of flags is related to many large topics in philosophy and in social sciences. My interest here is in the dialectics of how flags mean. Flags are polysemic and ambiguous, a kind of symbolic nodes grouping several layers of signification. Flags are not images, though, but objects made to be used not contemplated. Once raised, flags may talk. But what they say when talking depends upon the modes of use in communal practices. When used, flags contribute to the staging of an event. They are performative utterances in a specific situation. The paper begins with a short review of modern discourses on the nexus between light, colour, and emotion as unreflective forms of perceiving the world. Drawing upon studies on the contemporary production and reproduction of ways of seeing the chapter then explores in greater detail specific aspects of the dialectics of sense-making through flags. Aside from symbolising as well as iconic and spectacular modes of use banal forms of performance are taken into account. Once there, flags are signs of their own context. What they promote, the paper suggests, is not unity but configurations of common differences. Finally, the article addresses the role of flags for the assemblage of cultural identities of populations connected by digital media and the formation of society in the age of globalisation.

As we advance into the twenty-first century, more and more of what has once been crucial to the functioning of a society, slides into oblivion. However, certain agents of the past, carriers of social memory, prevail. One such an agent is the flag. More than just a mere symbol, the flag bears an opulent amount of meaning, sometimes accumulated over the centuries, at other times acquired overnight, evoking either love and pride, fear and contempt, or just indifference. The purpose of this paper is to analyse flags as carriers of collective memories and of local and national identity, and to compare various legal provisions controlling and protecting them. In the first part of the paper, the author introduces the concept of collective memory, showing how flags—carriers of memory—are connected to it. The second part of the paper is devoted to the questions of identity and national identity, and the ways they intersect with collective memories and, ultimately, flags. In the third, main part of the paper, the author ventures to examine the role of flags in the contemporary society. Applying the findings of the previous two chapters to a number of mini-case studies (Poland, Brazil, Australia, Greece, USA, various former USSR territories, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Hungary, Cyprus and Canada), the author shows how different societies hold different attitudes towards flags and how, even in a digital society we currently live in, such a material thing as a flag is vital for the creation of a group’s identity, and can still evoke deep and often completely conflicting feelings, even leading to conflict.

The “circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background” initially adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955, was gradually embraced by the European Union (EU) institutions and now is a widely known symbol of the EU, both within and outside of its external borders. Its widespread use was supposed to support the construction of “European identity” in addition to the existing national identities of the peoples of Europe. The present chapter explores the history and semantics of the European banner in order to appreciate its reception by the European citizens. Drawing from the historical circumstances of its adoption, the chapter then proceeds with the discussion on the use of the “EU flag” in two non-EU countries: Moldova and Serbia. A brief overview of the historical and current political contexts in these jurisdictions explores whether the use of the European symbol in these countries contributed to the “unity in diversity” as the motto of the EU suggests.

In this chapter, Michael Billig re-assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Banal Nationalism, responds to some of the arguments put forward in the other chapters in this collection and outlines some possible ways in which research on the topic might proceed.