Political animals in the Modern World: An Investigation of the National Animal Symbol

Abstract

AbstractNational symbols play a significant role in contemporary politics by shaping national identities. However, national animals receive little attention in the scholarship. This paper analysed the national animal’s history, strengths, formation and implications as a political symbol. It argues that using the animal as a national symbol has distinctive strengths because animal symbols have concrete traits and an interactive dimension. However, the national animals are not granted the same political significance in the formal institutional setting as other symbols because of the concern about exacerbating disunity between nations and potential undesirable international responses. Nonetheless, when the separatist movements of Catalonia and Flanders utilise the national animal, it does not face the same challenges and therefore has received more popularity from the nationals.