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2004-2005 Fellows

2004-2005 Fellow Malnay

Barnabas Malnay

Stanford University
Department of Political Science

Barnabas Malnay is a PhD student in Stanford's Political Science Department. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from Stanford, and a M.Phil. in Social Theory from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. He has been awarded a Humane Studies Fellowship by the Institute for Humane Studies, a New Democracy Fellowship by the Institute of International Studies, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and a British Chevening Award.

Project Summary

Malnay's research focuses on questions related to identity layering and supranational identity politics. He is seeking an explanation as to why some people have come to identify with larger-than-national political units, such as their continent or their religion comprising the population of several countries; what, if anything, about such supranational identification is historically novel; and when do supranational identities complement, and when do they eclipse, national and ethnic identities.  Malnay intends to argue that due both to the increased facility of communication and interaction across large distances and to the commitment to the - nominally - horizontal organization of individuals (as opposed to their mere subjection), the transaction costs of the coordination of individuals across national boundaries have been gradually decreasing, which has fueled the perception that the formation of larger-that-national "imagined communities" is now possible.