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.

Nationalism in Europe and America

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.

`A major addition to the curent literature on the challenging topic of how national identities are moulded.' - Michela Biddiss, Department of History University of Reading

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.

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.