Nations and Nationalism Introduction

Are you part of a nation? If so, what distinguishes your nation from others?

Two Scholarly Definitions Benedict Anderson – a nation is an imagined political community. It is imagined as a) limited b) sovereign, and c) a community.  

Definitions Anthony D. Smith – “a named human population sharing a historic territory; common myths and historical memories; a mass, public culture; a common economy, and common legal rights and duties for all members”

Ethnic nationalism/civic nationalism Ethnic nationalism: nation defined by ethnicity Idea of shared descent, hereditary membership Ethnic groups deserve self-determination Civic nationalism: nation defined by shared ideas and values Voluntary membership But are the lines between these nationalisms so clear?

Modernist views on nations They are modern (NOT ancient!) Why did a sense of nationhood and nation arise in the 1700s and 1800s? “print capitalism” Newly centralized states with firmer borders industrial revolution and improvements in transportation mass public education Decline of religious doctrine

More points about nationalism Nations are fluid, adaptable, and changeable. Nations are internally diverse. Globalization is prompting the ungluing of some nations from territory

From The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911.

Myths about nations MYTH: The world is naturally ordered into nations and “national states”. ACTUALITY: diversity of states & community through history within each “national state” there are often sub-nations.

Nationalist creeds (to be debated!!) Nations together include all humans (There is no human who does not belong to a nation). Nations are the natural units of humanity. Nations exist, therefore they should. Nations have a great historical continuity and should be continued. Because nations have shaped the lives of those who now live in them, they should continue to exist. Migration may be restricted to preserve a pattern of location (residence) in nations. National cultures have value, therefore nations must exist to produce and preserve them.

Nationalist creeds, cont. Nations are sacred. Nations have a status no other group or collectivity can have. Nations deserve supreme respect, beyond that for other groups. Antiquity confers special status. Nations may not be ended, singly or collectively.