Lecture 4: Nation and Nationalism 16 March 2006 Nation * Latin origin, natio from nasci: to be born, conveying idea of common blood ties (yet the Romans never designated themselves as a natio, reserved for `community of foreigners'), derogatory connotation; nationem: referring to breed or race * late 13th century introduced into English meaning blood related group, later relating to inhabitants of a country * medieval universities: communities of students; gradually changing the meaning of the word to a community of opinion, purpose * ecclesiastical councils of the late Middle Ages, the word lost all derogatory connotations; becoming a synonym for `people' * the word `nation' in wide use from the 18^th century * the word `nationalism', in contrast, much more recent What is the difference between ethny and nation? * nation is a self-defined rather than other-defined grouping; nation is a self-aware, self-defined ethnic group * ethnies are cultural communities much older than nations, on which nations are based * 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) * it is the political element that sets the two apart Defining the nation * definitions abound, the most fundamental conceptual divide being objective vs. subjective definitions * several problems with `objective' definitions mean that scholars nowadays use objective markers in conjunction with subjective factors Defining the nation * Objective definitions: * language, ethnicity, religion, territory, common history, shared descent (ancestry, kinship), common culture, etc. * 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) Defining the nation * Subjective definitions: * solidarity, self-awareness, loyalty, collective will, etc. * for example: "a soul, a spiritual principle" (E. Renan) or * "a community of sentiment which would adequately manifest itself in a state of its own" (M. Weber) or * "a group of people who believe they are ancestrally related" (W. Connor) or * "a relatively large group of genetically unrelated people with high solidarity" (M. Hechter) etc. Defining the nation * Probably the most famous definition is by Benedict Anderson: "a nation is an imagined political community - and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign" * Very useful when studying intergroup relations: "... 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) Nationalism studies * questions accompanying the definition of the terms `nation' and `nationalism' * attempts to identify the historical point when nations first emerged * how did nations and nationalism develop and how and why they are a part of our existence Are nations ancient or modern? * One side sees 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 (modernists) * In opposition, the so-called primordialists see nations as `forever there' entities that have existed for centuries, if not for ever -- nations come before nationalism * Somewhere in between stands the position of the ethnicists: 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. * The first position (the modernists) fails to acknowledge the deep roots that nations have in ethnies, they do not see the earlier ethno-symbolic base of modern nations. So, what is the nation? * every attempt to answer this unresolved question depends on the belief that nations are real entities - BUT * "Everyone agrees that nations are historically formed constructs." (Brubaker) * in contemporary writings nation is no longer regarded as unchanging and primary social entity So, what is the nation? * 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 * Ernest Gellner decided to omit definition of the nation; "nations can be defined only in terms of the age of nationalism" Theorising nationalism * the modern study of nationalism began with Ernest Gellner in the mid-1960s * most scholars (historians) agree that nationalism is a modern phenomenon: * as an ideology and discourse N became prevalent in North America and Western Europe in the second half of the 18^th century Nationalism * "a principle which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent" (Ernest Gellner) -- also all modernists, cf. Eric Hobsbawm, John Breuilly... * "nationalism is, above all, political" (Michael Hechter) * "nationalism is a political doctrine" (John Breuilly) Nationalism * nationalism is "an ideology which imagines the community in a particular way (as national), asserts the primacy of this collective identity over others, and seeks political power in its name, ideally ... in the form of a state for the nation" (Spencer & Wollman) * nationalism is a social and political movement * Michael Billig: `banal nationalism' -- everyday affirmation and perpetuation of national identity (cf. Bourdieu's `habitus', a set of social arrangements which have been internalised) * 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' Nationalism and `nation-state' * a nation "only exists when a state has a unified administrative reach over the territory over which its sovereignty is claimed" (Anthony Giddens) * the ideas of `nation' and `state' have been so successfully merged that we usually treat them as synonymous * 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: * only nations which have their own state can be described as `nation-states' and the reality is that these are very few! Nationalism and `nation-state' * The modern `nation-state' owes its current predominance to the historical fact that its Western European antecedents were militarily and economically so successful -- an `example' that others followed. * The predominance and ongoing persistence of the term is indebted to the two hundred years-long state-building process of Western Europe. Nationalism and `nation-state' * Connor: only 12 of 132 states he examined were sufficiently ethnically and culturally homogeneous to be `justifiably' described as nation-states. * Connor: nation-states "are those relatively rare situations, characterized by an extremely homogeneous population, where a nation has its own state". * A. D. Smith: nation-states are states claiming to be nations What do nationalists want? * 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 Readings for Lecture 5: * Race and racism -- understanding the meaning of the two terms/concepts * Look up in dictionaries * Find out which categories are used by the Census (or Statistical Office) of your country