Nationalism in specific political systems combined with a theoretical framework that draws out its universal significance. Ten case studies from South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe focus on local cultural factors.

Premature announcements of the eclipse of nation states under 'globalization' and 'empire' stand exposed as the 21st century's first economic crisis underlines their continuing importance. A predominantly cultural study of nationalism was unable to resist the 'globalization' thesis. Focusing on selected Asian cases, this book argues that nationalisms have always contained political economies as well as cultural politics. Placing nation-states centrally in our understanding of modern capitalism, it challenges the 'globalization' thesis. Rather than eclipse, nations and nationalisms have undergone changes under the impact of neoliberalism since the 1970s. Classical 20th century developmental nationalisms emphasised citizenship, economy and future orientations. Later cultural nationalisms - 'Asian values', 'Hindutva', 'Confucianism' or 'Nihonjiron' - stressed identity, culture and past orientations. Amid neoliberalism's flagrantly unequal political economy, not primarily concerned with material production or productivity, they glorified static conceptions of 'original' cultures and identities - whether religious, ethnic or other - and justified inequality as cultural difference. In contrast to the popular mobilizations which powered developmental nationalisms, cultural nationalisms throve on neoliberalism's disengagement and disenfranchisement, albeit partially compensated by the political baptism of newly enriched groups. Extremist wings of cultural nationalism in some countries were a function of this lack of popular support. This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

First Published in 1999. This book does not aim to offer a new or radically different interpretation of the ongoing debate over cultural geography. Kamrava states nor does it seek to present a universal theory of what Third World countries have done or ought to do as they navigate the political, economic and sociocultural traumas of development. Instead, it tries to place culture in its proper political perspective in the Third World.

Today the colonial empires of the world are shrinking, and the new nations which have emerged from the colonial past are rapidly developing into an important force in international affairs--the "third world." They are faced by a common problem, the urgent necessity to transform a peasant society into a modern industrial economy, and they are united by a common outlook, absolute opposition to all forms of colonialism and neocolonialism. In this work Peter Worsley analyzes the unique political forms that have evolved as a result of these two basic conditions. In his view the third world has rejected both of the great ideologies of today. Their new solutions are unique in world history, being based on populism, socialism, and, often, the one-party state, which, although anathema to the Western liberal, is a natural development in societies united by the common enemy of colonialism. "No one seriously concerned with the greatest problem of our time, the division of the world between the developed, industrialized, 'affluent' countries and les nations prolétaires, can afford to miss this book. . . . Professor Worsley has succeeded in giving us more solid information about underdeveloped parts of the world than can be found in any other book of comparable length."--The Times Literary Supplement "Peter Worsley . . . has written an excellent descriptive analysis of the evolution and present state of a third force in world politics. Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have . . . given society not only a new philosophy with new goals but charismatic philosophers who have the potential to make the philosophy of the third world a vital presence to be reckoned with. . . . a brilliant book."--Peter Schwab, Journal of Modern African Studies

This title was first published in 2001. Given current movements in global culture, technology, mobility, economic integration and regime transformation, what is it that can or does hold a community or political entity together? From a variety of perspectives, this text examines the cultural politics of nationalism, especially in the context of American culture and European politics where it is undergoing the most scrutiny. The first part of the volume explores the debates on the politics of national identity that surround global information and consumer distribution systems like the Internet. The second part offers a number of case studies of European domestic and foreign policy issues directly affected by arguments about cultural identity that have taken shape in the context of an increasingly global environment. Of particular interest in this volume is the tension often felt between France and the USA on the issue of culture, politics and nationalism.