Nation And Nationalism In Europe

An overview of the contending approaches to the nation and nationalism, in a European context

While nationalism had become politically significant well before the late nineteenth century, it was between 1890 and 1940 that it revealed its political explosiveness and destructive potential. Organised around specific themes, many of which are currently hotly debated among experts in the field, Oliver Zimmer's study discusses such key issues as: the modernity of nations and nationalism, the formation of the nationalising state and the significance of national ritual for modern mass-nations, the ways in which nationalism shaped the treatment of minorities, the relationship between nationalism and fascism, and the perception of nationalism by liberals and socialists. Zimmer's account is more explicitly focused on conceptual issues than most textbooks on the subject, and also more historical and historiographical than many of the existing theoretical overviews. The result is an incisive examination of the most powerful ideology of modern times.

This book offers an overview of the contending approaches to the nation and nationalism, in a European context. Part One explores a wide variety of theoretical perspectives including the controversial issue of theoretical dichotomy (civic versus ethnic nationalism) and attempts to overcome it. Part Two introduces three types of nationalism: as ideology, social movement and attitude, allowing for a systematic treatment of sub-state and central state nationalism. The final Part looks at European nationalism in practice, offering new empirical findings from both in-depth single country cases and cross-country comparisons. Key Features *The only textbook on the nation and nationalism which covers the main methodological and analytical issues and gives comparative empirical insights into nationalism in Western and Eastern Europe *Combines a clear exposition of contemporary theoretical positions and perspectives with the authors' own appraisal and synthesis *Presents a critical assessment of the breadth of the literature in the field *Regards nationalism as a contemporary rather than just a historical phenomenon*Challenges the concepts and theories regarding the nation and nationalism with a growing body of relevant empirical research *Includes empirical findings of contemporary nationalist tendencies for instance from Britain, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, and Sweden.

An examination of the ceaseless controversies surrounding ideas of nation and nationalism, showing that they are very far from dead in twenty-first century Europe. Beginning by defining these terms and setting out theories and concepts clearly and concisely, this book analyses the impact of nationalism since the Second World War, covering themes including: * the relationship of nationalism to the Cold War * the re-emergence of demands by stateless nations * European integration and globalisation * immigration since the 1970s * the effects of nationalism on the former Soviet Union and Eastern block.

This rich source book informs its reader in a comparative perspective about the political and social-economic past and present of fifteen Western, Central and Eastern European countries. This includes the economic and social aspects of the development of the nation state, descriptions of the current political structures and institutions, an account of the types of ethnic composition of the populations, definitions of citizenship and a background to the existing political parties and preferences. The countries involved are: the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Britain, France, Spain and Italy. The authors are scholars in the fields of nationalism and ethnic conflict and they were invited to write their country chapters along the lines of a common format, paying special attention to the notion of state and nation building processes, citizenship definitions and minority issues. This book is a comprehensive reference guide for students and scholars in the fields of social sciences, European studies, history and other related disciplines and generally to those who are interested in the past and present of any one of the large number of countries described.

In this wide-ranging work, Caspar Hirschi offers new perspectives on the origins of nationalism and the formation of European nations. Based on extensive study of written and visual sources dating from the ancient to the early modern period, the author re-integrates the history of pre-modern Europe into the study of nationalism, describing it as an unintended and unavoidable consequence of the legacy of Roman imperialism in the Middle Ages. Hirschi identifies the earliest nationalists among Renaissance humanists, exploring their public roles and ambitions to offer new insight into the history of political scholarship in Europe and arguing that their adoption of ancient role models produced massive contradictions between their self-image and political function. This book demonstrates that only through understanding the development of the politics, scholarship and art of pre-modern Europe can we fully grasp the global power of nationalism in a modern political context.

This study of nationalism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union develops an original account of the interlocking and opposed nationalisms of national minorities, the nationalizing states in which they live, and the external national homelands to which they are linked by external ties.

This collection brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines to offer perspectives on national identity formation in various European contexts between 1600 and 1815. Contributors challenge the dichotomy between modernists and traditionalists in nationalism studies through an emphasis on continuity rather than ruptures in the shaping of European nations in the period, while also offering an overview of current debates in the field and case studies on a number of topics, including literature, historiography, and cartography.