Table Of ContentCONTAINING NATIONALISM
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CONTAINING
NATIONALISM
MICHAEL HECHTER
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Michael Hechter 2000
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ISBN 0-19-829742-4
for Eliana
O niatre pulchra film pulclirior.
(Horace)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THIS book first began to take shape during a series of lectures
on nationalism I presented during Trinity Term 1996 at the
University of Oxford. Although the number of undergraduates at
these lectures dwindled rapidly as the lures of summer approached,
it was heartening that my colleagues Erica Benner and Lars-Eric
Cederman saw fit to attend regularly and remained engaged with
the issues.
The final manuscript was a long time in coming. In part, writing
a book on nationalism in these times has been rather like trying
to hit a rapidly moving target. Almost every day the morning
paper would trumpet new headlines about nationalism, and I was
impelled to discern what their deeper implications, if any, might
be. As the onrush of headlines never quit, the enterprise became
increasingly daunting. The book was also difficult to write on
account of the seriousness of the topic. Too many lives have been
sacrificed in the name of nationalism; this gives would-be analysts
a special obligation to try and get matters right.
In this attempt, I have received a great deal of help. Debra
Friedman's multiple readings, astute editorial advice, and constant
intellectual support were essential at all stages of the project. The
research assistance of Wade Roberts and Nobuyuki Takahashi
was little short of exemplary. A number of people read all or parts
of the manuscript and were kind enough to give me their un-
varnished reactions: Yoram Barzel, Daniel Bell, Johannes Berger,
William Brustein, Sun-Ki Chai, Hartmut Esser, John A. Hall,
Oscar Hechter, Edgar Kiser, Alexander Motyl, David Schmidtz,
and Pierre van den Berghe. I am deeply grateful to them all. In
addition, several anonymous reviewers provided trenchant com-
ments on previous drafts of the text. Bernard Grofman offered me
valuable advice on electoral systems, as did Timur Kuran on
Ottoman history. Much as I am tempted to blame these commen-
Acknowledgements vii
tators for the book's shortcomings, I alone take full responsibility
for its faults.
I was fortunate to have been invited to present various parts of
the book at colloquia and conferences at Cornell University
(Robert Gibbons), the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology (Andrew Walder), the University of Minnesota
(William Brustein), the University of Mannheim (Hartmut Esser),
New York University (Guillermina Jasso), the London School of
Economics (Anthony Smith), the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences (Peter Hedstrom and Richard Swedberg), the University
of Leipzig (Karl-Dieter Opp), the University of Wisconsin
(Crawford Young and Mark Beissinger), and the University of
Washington. Finally, some of the material in this book was
presented as the 1999 Maxwell Cummings Lecture at McGill
University (Axel Van Den Berg and Hudson Meadwell).
Evan Kimble and Karen Erickson helped with the graphics. Last,
a research professorship from the College of Social and Behavioral
Sciences of the University of Arizona enabled me to complete the
manuscript.
I would like to acknowledge the previously published material
that appears in this book. Table 3.1 first appeared in Michael H.
Fischer, Indirect Rule in India (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1991 p. 8). Figure 3.2 first appeared in Mark Brayshay,
Phillip Harrison, and Brian Chalkley's 'Knowledge, Nationhood
and Governance: the Speed of the Royal Post in Early-Modern
England.' Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 24, 1988. And
Figure 6.1 first appeared in an article by Sam Cole, 'Cultural
Accounting in Small Economies', Regional Studies, Vol. 27, 1993.Accounting in Small Economies', Regional Studies, Vol. 27, 1993.
M.H.
Seattle
June 1999
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CONTENTS
List of Figures x
List of Tables xi
1. Nationalist Puzzles 1
2. Causes of Nationalism 18
3. Indirect Rule and the Absence of Nationalism 35
4. State-Building Nationalism 56
5. Other Types of Nationalism 70
6. The Salience of National Identity 94
7. The Demand for Sovereignty and the Emergence of
Nationalism 113
8. Containing Nationalism 134
Notes 160
Bibliography 207
Index 237
