Nations, identity, power / George Schöpflin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schöpflin, George.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism.

Physical Description:

v, 442 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, 2000.

Summary:

Nationalism is pivotal to any understanding of contemporary politics, but our conception of it as a historical and contemporary phenomenon remains fragmentary and nebulous. In Nations, Identity, Power, George Schopflin analyzes the contradictions inherent in our understanding of nationalism in order to fashion a new intellectual synthesis.

In particular he questions why nations in the West are able to live with the nation as the legitimate space for democratic institutions, whereas in the post-communist world, especially in Eastern Europe, ethnicity is preeminent. Schopflin argues that the nation is simultaneously ethnic, civic and structured by the state. Hence the excesses of ethnicity derive from the shortcomings of state capacity and the weakness of civil society, rather than being an inherent evil. If ethnicity is alive and well, what is its role? Here again, his answer is challenging: ethnicity is one of the bases for consent to be ruled by the interventionist and rationalizing modern state.

With due sensitivity to the implicit, the symbolic, and the ways in which power is legitimized, Schopflin applies his understanding of nationalism to various East and Central European case studies, including Yugoslavia and Hungary. He also compares the role of ethnicity in other states, including Britain.

Overcoming the limits of both liberal and Marxist paradigms, this novel and thought-provoking book brings us several steps closer to understanding the intricacies of the nation-state and the operation of identity politics in the modern world.

Contents:

1. Introduction: The Nature of the Beast 1

Part I. What is the Nation?

2. Reason, Identity and Power 9

3. Civil Society, Ethnicity and the State: A Threefold Relationship 35

4. Citizenship, Ethnicity and Cultural Reproduction 51

5. Left and Right: Europe in the 1990s 66

6. Commemoration: Why Remember? 74

Part II. Ethnicity and Cultural Reproduction

7. A Taxonomy of Myths and their Functions 79

8. Ideological Thinking and Post-Communism 99

9. Language and Ethnicity in Central and Eastern Europe: Some Theoretical Aspects 116

Part III. The State, Communism and Post-Communism

10. Cultural Diversity and Good Governance: Some General Considerations 128

11. Why Empires Fail 137

12. The Communist Experience and Nationhood 147

13. An Analysis of Post-Communism 170

14. The Rise of Anti-Democratic Movements 189

15. Communism and State Legitimation 208

16. Culling Sacred Cows? State Frontiers and Stability 221

Part IV. Minorities

17. The Problem of Ethnic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe 231

18. Minorities under Communism 241

19. Ethnic Minorities in South-Eastern Europe 253

20. Minorities and Post-Communism: a Political and Sociological Analysis 277

Part V. The Ethnic Factor Reconsidered

21. Englishness: Citizenship, Ethnicity and Class 298

22. Yugoslavia: State Construction and State Failure 324

23. Power, Ethnicity and Communism in Yugoslavia 343

24. Hungary as Kin-State 370

25. Hungary and its Neighbours 378

26. Inter-Ethnic Relations in Transylvania: Rhetoric and Reality 410

27. Human Rights and the Nationality Question in Romania 415.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0814781179

OCLC:

39217473