RATIONALE

Europe contains a vast number of collective territorial (political-cultural) (id)entities (states, regions, historical regions, macro-regions) generally overlapping each other and occurring simultaneously at different levels of identification. The basic layer for that European territorial palimpsest is provided by the historical regions, upon which (the boundaries of) (administrative) regions, (sovereign) states and/or (international) macro-regions are constructed.

IdEnt lists those territorial (id)entities, For each (id)entity, information on its markers is given, followed by data on their (nationalist / regionalist) parties and other organizations having that (id)entity at the heart of their remit.

The list ends at the borders of geographical Europe - but crosses them where there are cultural ties with the continent (Kurdistan for instance).

The inclusion of entries is based on the actual political-geographical situation i.e. the collective identity formation. Mark that the selection of an (id)entity does not confirm nor denies possible claims made by movements or governments alike regarding the identity in question. The list purely acts as an easy aid to situate a (id)entity that for instance comes up in a news article. And remember that the history of 'forgotten' nations and states and other (id)entities shows that in the (perhaps not so distant) future the present ones could constitute nothing more than a footnote...

A word on the name for the website: IdEnt refers at the same time to territorial entities and their identities. As they are not only manifested through a whole set of practices but these practices are in fact constructing that identity at the same time, there is an analogy with the practice of radio- and television stations to identify themselves on-air with the help of a so-called 'ident'.

Finally: IdEnt is still a work in progress, with new entries constantly being written or already brought up-to-date.