This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. Ten anthropological case studies describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. As a contribution to the wider theoretical debates about nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization, it will interest to students and scholars in anthropology, political science, international studies and modern history.

This exciting new book is the first to offer a truly comprehensive account of the vibrant topic of nationalism. Packed with a series of rich, illustrative examples, the book examines this powerful and remarkable political force by exploring: - Definitions of nationalism - Language and nationalism - Religion and Nationalism - Nationalist history - The social roots of ideologies and the significance of race, gender and class - Nationalist movements, from dominant majorities to peripheral minorities socio-economic and sociological perspectives - State responses to nationalism Supported by a number of helpful illustrations, tables and diagrams, the text is both engaging and highly informative. Nationalism, Ethnicity and the State: Making and Breaking Nations will prove an insightful read for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in the area of Politics and International Relations.

`Excellent and compelling' - Partha Chatterjee, University of Columbia `A provocative, passionate and stimulating new interpretation of ethnic nationalism' - Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago `A significant study that informs us of the politics and group interests in one of the most volatile regions of the world' - Stephen Castles, Oxford University `Very interesting intellectual and political ideas - refreshing' - Gyan Pandey, Johns Hopkins University `An informed and lucid work that demystifies the politics of nationalism' - Howard Brasted, University of New England A major challenge Pakistan has been confronted with since it came into existence is the self-assertion of various ethnic groups, which have actively contested the legitimacy of the state structure. However, despite the seriousness of this ethnic challenge, there exists no detailed study of these movements, Politics of Identity fills this vacuum. Ethnic nationalism, the author argues, is a political issue and is essentially a struggle for power between dominant and non-dominant groups. Highlighting the role the state plays in the lives of individuals, the book: - studies both the pre-colonial and colonial state system in India and the changes it effected until India's independence and the creation of Pakistan; - assesses the state in Pakistan and explains its role in giving rise to ethnic discontent; - studies four ethnic movements - Pukhtun, Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir - demonstrating how their proximity to or distance from state power have influenced their politics.

Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran investigates the ways in which Armenian minorities in Iran encountered Iranian nationalism and participated in its development over the course of the twentieth century. Based primarily on oral interviews, archival documents, memoirs, memorabilia, and photographs, the book examines the lives of a group of Armenian Iranians—a truck driver, an army officer, a parliamentary representative, a civil servant, and a scout leader—and explores the personal conflicts and paradoxes attendant upon their layered allegiances and compound identities. In documenting individual experiences in Iranian industry, military, government, education, and community organizations, the five social biographies detail the various roles of elites and nonelites in the development of Iranian nationalism and reveal the multiple forces that shape the processes of identity formation. Yaghoubian combines these portraits with a theoretical grounding to answer recurring pivotal questions about how nationalism evolves, why it is appealing, what broad forces and daily activities shape and sustain it, and the role of ethnicity in its development.

This groundbreaking work explores the vital importance of territory and space to any genuine understanding of nationalism and identity. Too often, the contributors argue, national identity is analyzed apart from the lands that are integral to its formation, as territory is seen as a commodity to be brokered rather than as central to a group's self-definition. This volume combines theoretical insights with structured case studies on how national identity manifests itself in space and at different geographical scales.

Since its publication this important study has become established as a central work on the vast and contested subject of modern nationalism. Placing historical evidence within a general theoretical framework, John Breuilly argues that nationalism should be understood as a form of politics that arises in opposition to the modern state. In this updated and revised edition, he extends his analysis to the most recent developments in central Europe and the former Soviet Union. He also addresses the current debates over the meaning of nationalism and their implications for his position. Breuilly challenges the conventional view that nationalism emerges from a sense of cultural identity. Rather, he shows how elites, social groups, and foreign governments use nationalist appeals to mobilize popular support against the state. Nationalism, then, is a means of creating a sense of identity. This provocative argument is supported with a wide-ranging analysis of pertinent examples—national opposition in early modern Europe; the unification movement in Germany, Italy, and Poland; separatism under the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires; fascism in Germany, Italy, and Romania; post-war anti-colonialism and the nationalist resurgence following the breakdown of Soviet power. Still the most comprehensive and systematic historical comparison of nationalist politics, Nationalism and the State is an indispensable book for anyone seeking to understand modern politics.

This volume combines theoretical analysis with a rich set of case studies to understand how national identity is negotiated across spatial scales. As nationalism and identity have continued as critical global flashpoints, this book provides the only up-to-date, comprehensive treatment of the territorial and scalar dimensions of national identity.