Textures of Loyalty Reflections on an analytical Concept

How can we analyze the (dis) integration of supranational orders and societies? Studying loyalty offers a research perspective that has the potential to address the societal sustainability of emotion, disposition, and agency. However, a sufficient theory of loyalty remains to be developed. The article discusses the analytical potential of the concept of loyalty in relation to other concepts like trust, fidelity, identity and solidarity. It provides a short introduction to historical research that has mainly focused on loyalty as a question of patriotism, citizenship, nationalism, and religion within nation states and empires. Drawing on questions of loyalty within the European Union, the paper concludes by discussing the institutional aspects of loyalty in order to offer a better explanation of the conditions of societal and supranational coherence.