Nationalism In Contemporary Europe

Derek Hastings's Nationalism in Modern Europe is the essential guide to a potent political and cultural phenomenon that featured prominently across the modern era. With firm grounding in transnational and global contexts, the book traces the story of nationalism in Europe from the French Revolution to the present. Hastings reflects on various nationalist ideas and movements across Europe, and always with a keen appreciation of other prevalent signifiers of belonging – such as religion, race, class and gender – which helps to inform and strengthen the analysis. The text shines a light on key historiographical trends and debates and includes 20 images, 14 maps and a range of primary source excerpts which can serve to sharpen vital analytical skills which are crucial to the subject. New content and features for the second edition include: - A chapter examining region, religion, class and gender as alternative 'markers of identity' throughout the 19th century - An enhanced global dimension that covers transnational fascism and non-European comparatives - Additional primary source excerpts and figures - Historiographical updates throughout which account for recent research in the field

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity. Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the 'national question'. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavla and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War. Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that 'nations' are not 'natural' phenomena but 'constructed' forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.

This book provides an introductory survey to contemporary nationalism in East Central Europe. It examines the problem of nationalism in the region in the wake of the collapse of communism and attempts to place recent events within a historical context. The book contains selected essays devoted to specific countries as well as those covering nationalism on a regional basis. A further reading list is included to encourage a deeper probing into the problem of nationalism in East Central Europe.

This book proposes a conceptualisation of nationalism with a multilevel operational character. It offers three different perspectives on nationalism that consider both the discursive structure and the discursive agency of nationalism. It also demonstrates a number of intra-phenomenal and extra-phenomenal constraints on nationalism. This book underlines that nationalism in contemporary Europe should not be regarded in terms of methodological homogeneity and conceptual uniformity, ideological rigidity or strategic consistency but rather as a contested, segmented, bounded and contextual phenomenon.

This book proposes a conceptualisation of nationalism with a multilevel operational character. It offers three different perspectives on nationalism that consider both the discursive structure and the discursive agency of nationalism. It also demonstrates a number of intra-phenomenal and extra-phenomenal constraints on nationalism. This book underlines that nationalism in contemporary Europe should not be regarded in terms of methodological homogeneity and conceptual uniformity, ideological rigidity or strategic consistency but rather as a contested, segmented, bounded and contextual phenomenon. Andrzej Marcin Suszycki is adjunct professor (Privatdozent) at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Potsdam.

Nationalism remains one of the key political, societal, and sociopsychological phenomena in contemporary Europe. Its significance for the justification of state policies and the stability of political systems, particularly in the context of advanced democracies, and its significance for people's basic needs for a political and cultural identity and a sense of national pride continue to challenge scholars. The international scholars assembled in this edited collection suggest that the use of three perspectives--supranationalism, boundary-making nationalism, and regional nationalism--may be promising as an explanatory framework for the analysis of nationalism in Europe. The book's contributors distance themselves from older dichotomies such as civic and ethnic nationalism and questions the one-sided normativity of nationalism, in particular in the concept of liberal nationalism. It argues that a promising approach to contemporary nationalism should reflect the multiplicity of nationalism. The volume is a collection of studies by a multinational group of authors with backgrounds in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Latvia, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Ukraine and the United States.

National indifference is one of the most innovative notions historians have brought to the study of nationalism in recent years. The concept questions the mass character of nationalism in East Central Europe at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Ordinary people were not in thrall to the nation; they were often indifferent, ambivalent or opportunistic when dealing with issues of nationhood. As with all ground-breaking research, the literature on national indifference has not only revolutionized how we understand nationalism, over time, it has also revealed a new set of challenges. This volume brings together experienced scholars with the next generation, in a collaborative effort to push the geographic, historical, and conceptual boundaries of national indifference 2.0.