Series Editor's Preface. Introduction by John Breuilly. Acknowledgements. 1. Definitions. State and nation. The nation. 2. Culture in Agrarian Society. Power and culture in the agro-literature society. The varieties of agrarian rulers. 3. Industrial Society. The society of perpetual growth. Social genetics. The age of universal high culture. 4. The Transition to an Age of Nationalism. A note on the weakness of nationalism. Wild and garden culture. 5. What is a Nation. The course of true nationalism never did run smooth. 6. Social Entropy and Equality in Industrial Society. Obstacles to entropy. Fissures and barriers. A diversity of focus. 7. A Typology of Nationalisms. The varieties of nationalist experience. Diaspora nationalism. 8. The Future of Nationalism. Industrial culture - one or many?. 9. Nationalism and Ideology. Who is for Nuremberg?. One nation, one state. 10. Conclusion. What is not being said. Summary. Select bibliography. Bilbliography of Ernest Gellner's writing: Ian Jarvie. Index

Nations and Nationalism

Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, by Olivier Roy. New York: Columbia University Press, in association with the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, 2004. xi + 340 pages. Index to p. 349. $29.50. Olivier Roy devotes much of Globalized Islam to the distinction between what he calls "Islamism" and "neofundamentalism." He argues that Islamist movements tend to seek power in specific countries and have become increasingly nationalistic. Neofundamentalist movements, on the other hand, tend to focus on the Islamic world as a whole and do not concentrate on achieving power. According to Roy, neofundamentalists usually favor da'wa, or preaching, over jihad. "For neofundamentalists the aim of action is salvation, not revolution" (p. 248). Even when neofundamentalists do engage in jihad, they still shun "political action" (p. 250). Yet, Roy's list of "neofundamentalist" movements includes al-Qa'ida as well as the Tablighi Jama'a (p. 234). It is hard to see how anyone could argue that al-Qa'ida is more interested in salvation than revolution or that its acts of violence are not political. Roy is a knowledgeable and insightful scholar, and he makes many important points. He rightly stresses that Islam often serves primarily as a marker of national and/ or ethnic identity rather than as a political program. He rightly criticizes those who think that the behavior of Muslims today can simply be explained by examining verses of the Qur'an. And he correctly emphasizes that al-Qa'ida has an anti-imperialist dimension that should not be ignored (although this is hard to reconcile with his characterization of al-Qa'ida as an apolitical neofundamentalist movement). At the same time, however, Roy makes many sweeping generalizations that are simply inaccurate. He claims that "Bin Laden only paid lip-service to Palestine till the end of 2001" (p. 3). This is a common assertion. It is also an erroneous one. In a 1994 letter to Sheikh 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Baz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden wrote: "The Shar'i obligation regarding Palestine and our Palestinian brothers, [who are] among the helpless oppressed men, women, and children, is jihad in the path of God and inciting the Umma to jihad to liberate all of Palestine and return it to Islamic rule." Much of this letter is devoted to rejecting the very idea of a peace agreement with Israel. (The Arabic text of the letter is available online at http://www.alwahabiya.org/articles/binladen_to_binbaz.htm) Roy asserts that "popular mobilisation in the Middle East centres around nationalism...not around Islam" (p. 51). Similarly, he contends that "Osama Bin Laden did not grasp that the genuine antiAmericanism of the 'average' Arab had never led to a sustainable political mobilisation, and that if such mobilisation ever did happen it would be over Palestine and Iraq that is, over Arab and not Islamic issues" (p. 56). It is true that groups like Hamas and the main movements fighting the American-led occupation of Iraq have a nationalist dimension, and this is an important point. …

Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah

Peasants into Frenchmen: The modernization of rural France 1870–1914: Eugene Weber, (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1976. Pp. xv + 615. $20·00)

In this article, we incorporate the study of diasporas into international relations (IR) theory by focusing on diasporas as independent actors who actively influence their homeland (kin-state) foreign policies. We argue that diasporic influences can best be understood by situating them in the ‘theoretical space’ shared by constructivism and liberalism; two approaches that acknowledge the impact of identity and domestic politics on international behavior. We also maintain that the exploration of diasporic activities can enrich both constructivism and liberalism. First, diasporas' identity-based motivations should be an integral part of the constructivist effort to explain the formation of national identities. Second, diasporic activities and influences in their homelands expand the meaning of the term ‘domestic politics’ to include not only politics inside the state but also inside the people For the liberal approach, this is a “new fact” in the Lakatosian sense of the word. We theorize that the extent of diasporic influence on homeland foreign policy is determined by three components that make up the ‘balance of power’ between homelands and diasporas. We then test this theory by delving into the interaction between the newly established state of Armenia and its powerful diaspora, and by comparing this case with examples taken from the relations between Israel and diaspora Jews.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3594834.pdf

Diasporas and International Relations Theory

Liberal nationalism is a liberal form of nationalism that tries to reconcile two sets of seemingly contradictory values: the values of liberalism and...

On Liberal Nationalism

Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires is a wide-ranging comparative study of the origins of today's ethnic politics in East Central Europe, the former Russian empire and the Middle East. Centred on the First World War Era, Ethnic Nationalism highlights the roles of historical contingency and the ordeal of total war in shaping the states and institutions that supplanted the great multinational empires after 1918. It explores how the fixing of new political boundaries and the complex interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces set in motion bitter ethnic conflicts and political disputes, many of which are still with us today. Topics discussed include: * the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire * the ethnic dimension of the Russian Revolution and Soviet state building * Nationality issues in the late Ottoman empire * the origins of Arab nationalism * ethnic politics in zones of military occupation * the construction of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav identities Ethnic Nationalism is an invaluable survey of the origins of twentieth-century ethnic politics. It is essential reading for those interested in the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in modern European and Middle Eastern history.

Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires : Central Europe, Russia and the Middle East, 1914-1923

Introduction 1. Nationalism in antiquity 2. The nation in history and the curved arrow of time 3. Violation and volition 4. Chosenness and mission 5. Kindred blood, mingled blood - ethnic and civic frameworks of national identity Conclusion Bibliography.

/pdf/the-endurance-of-nationalism-ancient-roots-and-modern-2r3wdhhxa3.pdf

The Endurance of Nationalism: Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas

Introduction 1. Days and nights in wartime Russia Richard Stites 2. German culture in the Great War Peter Jelavich 3. Culture in Poland during World War I Harold B. Segel 4. Jewish cultural identity in Eastern and central Europe during the Great War Aviel Roshwald 5. The tragic carnival: Austrian culture in the First World War Steven Beller 6. Ambivalent patriots: Czech culture in the Great War Claire Nolte 7. Culture in Hungary during World War I Joseph Held 8. Culture in the south Slavic lands, 1914-18 Andrew Wachtel 9. Between apology and denial: Bulgarian culture during World War I Evelina Kelbetcheva 10. Romania: war, occupation, liberation Maria Bucur 11. Occupation, propaganda, and the idea of Belgium Sophie de Schaepdrijver 12. Cultural life in France, 1914-18 Marc Ferro 13. The impact of World War I on Italian political culture Walter L. Adamson 14. Popular culture in wartime Britain Jay Winter Conclusion.

European Culture in the Great War: The Arts, Entertainment and Propaganda, 1914-1918

This paper seeks to highlight the inescapable nature of the dilemmas that confront any attempt to reconcile the desire for political cohesion with respect for ethno-cultural diversity within any actually existing nation state. Methods of accommodating such diversity while maintaining the state's territorial integrity range from granting minorities regional autonomy to selectively incorporating aspects and symbols of their heritage and identity into a shared, trans-ethnic national tableau. Each of these approaches carries certain risks: the former may arouse fears of ‘Balkanization’, while the latter can be associated with assimilationist pressures that may be perceived as reducing substantive cultural differences to banal variations on a hegemonic national–cultural theme. In practice, any successful policy must rest on a flexible conception of state sovereignty and will likely rely on experimentation with a variety of options from along the Balkanization–banalization spectrum.

Between Balkanization and Banalization: Dilemmas of Ethno-cultural Diversity

Ethnic and civic nationalism denote, respectively, nationalism based on claims of kinship as manifested in shared culture, and nationalism rooted in shared citizenship and political values The former has commonly been associated with authoritarian and intolerant movements and regimes, the latter with the liberal–democratic rule of law Yet the simplistic dichotomy between these ideal types proves hard to sustain when looking empirically at the complex, contested, and ever evolving forms of national identity across the globe and over the course of history


Keywords:

citizenship;
minorities;
nationalism;
postcolonialism;
violence

Aviel Roshwald

Papers

Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires : Central Europe, Russia and the Middle East, 1914-1923

The Endurance of Nationalism: Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas

European Culture in the Great War: The Arts, Entertainment and Propaganda, 1914-1918

Between Balkanization and Banalization: Dilemmas of Ethno-cultural Diversity

Civic and Ethnic Nationalism