Lecture 5 Nationalism What is the difference between ethny and nation? n nation is a self-defined rather than other-defined grouping; nation is a self-aware, self-defined ethnic group n ethnies are cultural communities much older than nations, on which nations are based n difference between ethnies and nations is that nations have a delimited territory, a unified legal and economic system, and a public culture, but ethnies lack those elements (A. D. Smith) n it is the political element that sets the two apart Nation n originally it was used for people who were born in the same place; Latin origin, natio (from nasci to be born), conveying idea of common blood ties (but the Romans never designated themselves as a natio, the term was reserved for `community of foreigners') n the word `nation' in wide use from the 18^th century n in contrast, the word `nationalism' much more recent What is the nation? n Objective definitions: n language, ethnicity, religion, territory, common history, shared descent (ancestry, kinship), common culture, etc. n for example: "a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture" (Stalin) n Subjective definitions: n solidarity, self-awareness, loyalty, collective will, etc. n for example: "a soul, a spiritual principle" (E. Renan) or n "a community of sentiment which would adequately manifest itself in a state of its own" (M. Weber) or n "a group of people who believe they are ancestrally related" (W. Connor) or n "a relatively large group of genetically unrelated people with high solidarity" (M. Hechter) etc. What is the nation? n "... when analysing sociopolitical situations, what ultimately matters is not what is but what people believe is. And a subconscious belief in the group's separate origin and evolution is an important ingredient of national psychology" (Walker Connor) What is the nation? n every attempt to answer this unresolved question depends on the belief that nations are real entities n "Everyone agrees that nations are historically formed constructs." (Brubaker) n in contemporary writings nation is no longer regarded as unchanging and primary social entity Are nations ancient or modern? n the modernists see the nation as a purely modern phenomenon; it is a product of capitalism or industrialism and bureaucracy, an outcome of modernisation -- nationalism comes before nations n example: nation "belongs exclusively to a particular, and historically recent, period. It is a social entity only insofar as it relates to a certain kind of modern territorial state, the `nation-state', and it is pointless to discuss nation and nationality except insofar as both relate to it" (Hobsbawm) n in opposition, the primordialists see nations as `forever there' entities that have existed for centuries, if not for ever -- nations come before nationalism Are nations ancient or modern? n somewhere in between stands the position of the ethnicists n they believe the modernists put too much emphasis on the modernity: they exaggerate the impact of industrialism, capitalism, bureaucracy on the modern state and nationalism n the modernists fail to acknowledge the deep roots that nations have in ethnies, they do not see the earlier ethno-symbolic base of modern nations What is the nation? n civic and ethnic definitions of nation: n civic nationhood derives from free will and participation in the nation; ethnic nationhood is tied to culture, ethnicity, and based on shared territory or language, or common descent etc. n Volksnation as relating to myths of common origin n Kulturnation as elevating the myth of common culture (narod) n Staatsnation as based on citizenship (nacija) Some definitions: n "a nation is an imagined political community - and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign" (Benedict Anderson) n Miroslav Hroch is convinced that nations are real (note: not eternal) and should be defined as including: remembered common past of the group, linguistic or cultural ties enabling social communication within the group, perceived equality of all who belong to the group n Gellner decided to omit definition of the nation; "nations can be defined only in terms of the age of nationalism" Nationalism and `nation-state' n Giddens: a nation "only exists when a state has a unified administrative reach over the territory over which its sovereignty is claimed" n the ideas of `nation' and `state' have been so successfully merged that we usually treat them as synonymous -- this is not right! n the term `nation-state' implies that the cultural and the political correspond; that the `people' who are ruled by the institutions of the state are culturally (ethnically) homogeneous -- when in fact: n only nations which have their own state can be described as `nation-states' and the reality is that these are very few Nationalism n "a principle which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent" (Gellner) -- also Hobsbawm, Breuilly... n "nationalism is, above all, political" (Hechter) n "nationalism is a political doctrine" (Breuilly) n nationalist doctrine has 3 main claims: nations are distinct and unique, loyalty to the nation is more important than other interests and values, the nation should have its own state Nationalism n nationalism is above all a social and political movement; sociological view should not reduce nationalism only to politics n Billig: `banal nationalism' -- everyday affirmation and perpetuation of national identity (cf. Bourdieu's `habitus', a set of social arrangements which have been internalised) n one can understand nationalism as an organising political principle that requires national homogenisation and gives absolute priority to national values and `interests' in aiming to achieve `national goals' Is nationalism about culture or politics? n Hutchinson proposes the distinction between cultural and political nationalism n cultural (also ethnic, Eastern) vs. political (also civic, Western) nationalism n "Nationalism is not about culture or politics, it is about both. It involves the `culturalization' of politics and the `politicization' of culture." (Özkirimli) Theories of nationalism n most scholars agree that nationalism is a modern phenomenon n the modern study of nationalism began with Ernest Gellner in the mid-1960s n nationalism has survived and it prospers n a new variant of nationalism emerged in the final quarter of the 20^th century: n neo-nationalism & post-communist nationalism Next week's readings: n We will talk about the post-1989 break-up of multinational states and about post-communism: think about the relationship between communism and nationalism and prepare a case-study example (e.g. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia...) n Holmes, Leslie (1997): Post-communism: An Introduction. Polity Press, Cambridge n Frentzel-Zagorska, Janina (ed.) (1993): From a One-Party State to Democracy: Transition in Eastern Europe. Rodopi, Amsterdam