Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

Despite the growing interest by scholars, practitioners and public policymakers, there are still divergent and fragmented conceptualizations of nation branding as the field is still developing. In response, the purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize nation branding research and to provide directions for future research.,The authors review peer-reviewed theoretical and empirical journal articles published during the last two decades – from 1998 to 2018. Selected journal articles on nation branding were subsequently synthesized for further insights.,The field of nation branding is fragmented and has developed in the course of the last two decades in different directions. This paper identifies key publication outlets and articles, major theoretical and methodological approaches and primary variables of interest that exist in the nation branding literature. The findings also highlight several research themes for future research.,This research fills a need to summaries the current state of the nation branding literature and identifies research issues that need to be addressed in the future.

Two decades of research on nation branding: a review and future research agenda

Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty, Aihwa Ong. Duke University Press, Durham, NC (2006), ISBN: 9780822337485

We offer a political-economic, postcolonial interrogation of nation branding based on the Incredible India campaign. We show how the discursive violence inherent in nation branding promotes internal hegemonies and external market interests at the expense of cosmopolitan ideas of belonging and community. In Incredible India, colonial identities are reinscribed, peripheralizing India in line with the demands of global markets, privileging Western desires and imagination. Internal political hegemonies promoting India as a Hindu nation are also reflected in the campaign, marginalizing minority groups. However, the attempt to construct a unitary nation simultaneously reveals the presence of the “other,” contesting the narrative's boundaries. The analysis confirms nation branding as a fundamentally political process, implicated in the production and perpetuation of inequalities.

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(In)credible India? A Critical Analysis of India’s Nation Branding

Internationalization Through Sociopolitical Relationships: MNEs in India.

India is a vast, diverse country, which attracts much attention as a political and economic entity as well as a major tourism destination. This commentary explores the Incredible India Campaign, a ...

/pdf/nation-branding-a-critical-appraisal-of-incredible-india-30zeqxe9tr.pdf

Jyotsna Shivanandan

Papers

Nation Branding: A Critical Appraisal of Incredible India