Reimagining the nation-state : the contested terrains of nation-building / Jim Mac Laughlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mac Laughlin, Jim.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics, Irish.

History.

Ireland--Politics and government--19th century.

Ireland.

Politics and government.

National characteristics, Irish--History--19th century.

Nationalism--Ireland--History--19th century.

Nationalism.

Irish question.

Physical Description:

289 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2001.

Summary:

Traditional approaches to nationalism tend to exaggerate the antiquity of the nation-state while ignoring the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century origins of nation building in Western Europe and North America. Jim Mac Laughlin argues for a more grassroots, place-centered approach to understanding nation building. Mac Laughlin assesses competing models of nationalism and nation building in the works of key theorists such as Gellner, Hecter, and Nairn, and puts forward an alternative dialectical model grounded in historical and geographical specificity. Using Ireland as a case study, he locates Irish nationalism and Ulster unionism in a variety of clearly defined regional and social class contexts. Emphasizing the strategic and symbolic significance of "place, " Mac Laughlin identifies certain areas as nationalist or unionist heartlands while others remain contested terrain over which both sides continue to disagree.

Contents:

Introduction

The naturalisation of nation-building in the nineteenth century

English nation-building and seventeenth century Ireland

'Political arithmetic' and the early origins of ethnic minorities

Theorising the nation

Nationalising people, places, and historical records in nineteenth century Ireland

Social and ethnic collectivities in nation-building Ireland

Pressing home the nation

Pamphlet wars and provincial newspapers in Protestant Ulster

The surveillance state and the imagined community

Local politics and nation-building.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [272]-284) and index.

ISBN:

0745313698

0745313647

OCLC:

44131602