The authors of the research article “Democracy and Collective Identity in the E.U. and the USA” are Kathleen R. McNamara from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and Paul Musgrave from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts. The potential bias of the research article is that both authors are American, who is writing about American history. There is always potential bias when one is writing about his own country and politics.
The main thesis of the article is that the European Union needs participatory democracy in order to shape collective national identity. The arguments of the authors are examples from the history of the United States on its way to democracy. The authors argue that the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and participation of general mass in politics shapes the national identity of whole Americans.
The authors did not rely on any primary sources since the article is not related to any historical event. The article is shaped around the movements and actions of U.S. citizens of the eighteenth century when U.S Constitution was ratified. The authors mostly rely on the earlier work regarding the role of the Constitution and political and social movements throughout U.S. history.
The source is definitely reliable since all arguments and discussion are supported with historical events or by other research works conducted earlier. The article is sufficiently convincing due to the well-organized structure of the paper, which makes the reader gradually fall from one argument to another with an appropriate logical flow.
The source is related to the topic of the project since it discusses the social nature of the U.S. Constitution. It highlights the importance of the Constitution in shaping the collective identity of Americans. Hence, the article can be used as support to argue that the Constitution cannot be discussed without the social outcomes of the document. The article brings a new perspective to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, which can bring a fresh look on the project topic.
References
McNamara, K. R., & Musgrave, P. (2020). Democracy and Collective Identity in the E.U. and the USA. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 58(1), 172-188.