The Nation and Nationalism in Europe: An Introduction

224 Pages·2011·0.71 MB·English

by  Pawel Karolewski

The Nation and
Nationalism in Europe
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The Nation and
Nationalism in Europe
An Introduction
Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski and
Andrzej Marcin Suszycki
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski and Andrzej Marcin Suszycki, 2011
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 11/12.5 Sabon by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
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A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 3806 2 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 3807 9 (paperback)
The right of Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski and Andrzej Marcin Suszycki to be
identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents
List of Tables vi
Introduction 1
1 The Nation: In Search of a Concept 15
2 The Nation and National Identity 37
3 Nationalism: A Problem of Defi nition? 57
4 Typologies of Nationalism 86
5 Four Levels of Nationalism 104
6 Nationalism in Europe in Practice 115
7 Nationalism between Regionalism and European
Integration 166
8 Further Research Foci of Nationalism 207
Index 218
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Tables
3.1 Main research foci on nationalism 58
3.2 Relationship between nationalism and modernity 59
3.3 Relationship between nationalism and democracy 68
3.4 Relationship between nationalism and distributive
justice 73
4.1 Gellner’s typology of nationalism-inducing and
nationalism-thwarting situations 88
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Introduction
Why a book on the nation and nationalism?
The nation and nationalism have long been major research topics
in the fi elds of social sciences, history and anthropology. The
research has included describing the different forms and types
of nations as well as the search for the causes of nationalism.
Nowadays, the subject of the nation and nationalism continues to
challenge scholars in their exploration of its signifi cance for peo-
ple’s lives and its role in the justifi cation of government policies as
well as in the democratic context. In addition, new forms and types
of nationalism are being discussed against the background of glo-
balisation and individualisation. The more recent debates on the
nation and nationalism relate to, among other things, the issue of
whether national identity serves basic human needs and is compat-
ible with or even necessary for the implementation of liberal ideals
of equality and individuality.
Both concepts of the nation and nationalism are still subject to
scientifi c inquiry and exhibit a growing conceptual and theoretical
variety with frequently contrasting positions. For instance, con-
cerning the concept of the nation, a controversy has arisen regard-
ing its ethnic connotation. Although the liberal political theory does
not centre on nations, it recognises that a modern state depends on
some national justifi cation of popular sovereignty. John Stuart
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The Nation and Nationalism in Europe
Mill, the classic thinker of liberalism, spoke unmistakably of the
feeling of nationality:
This feeling of nationality may have been generated by various
causes . . . But the strongest of all is identity of political ante-
cedents; the possession of national history, and consequent
community of recollections . . . Free institutions are next to
impossible in a country made up of different nationalities.
Among a people without fellow-feeling, especially if they read
and speak different languages, the united public opinion, neces-
sary to the working of representative government, cannot exist.1
In this context, even some liberal thinkers argue that the nation
lies at the heart of the modern nation-state. They highlight the
signifi cance of nations for citizens and their role in the justifi cation
of liberal policies. In addition, nations are supposed to serve basic
individual needs and should not only be compatible with postu-
lates of equality and individuality, but should also be fostered for
the liberal-democratic state to function. In contrast, others suggest
that nations are prone to being oppressive to minorities and mar-
ginalised members, since they view cultures as essentialist and
static, thus rejecting the fundamental value of individual rights.
In this view, nations have to be reluctantly but pragmatically
accepted as a pervasive form of group loyalty, but one should not
bestow any ethical signifi cance upon them. Whereas nations are a
currently inevitable form of allegiance, their proponents transfer
respect and dignity from individuals to nations, a procedure not
only theoretically unsatisfactory but also politically irresponsible.
A plethora of approaches and theories has also been developed
with regard to what nationalism is and what it is triggered by.
Numerous debates on nationalism have produced many contro-
versies and unresolved questions. For instance, there has been an
ongoing controversy regarding the very nature of nationalism.
While the mainstream of nationalism research conceptualises
nationalism as primarily past-orientated and defensive, some new
approaches relate nationalism to the creative construction of the
nation in an economic perspective. They argue that nationalist
mobilisation is not exclusive to actors and ideologies striving for
political autonomy. National identity can also become mobilised
by non-political national institutions, such as economic develop-
ment agencies, dealing with strategies of economic development
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Introduction
and attempting to reconcile the actual needs of the societies with
their material aspirations.2 Therefore, nationalism can also be
regarded as a set of strategic attitudes and developmental aims
rather than as a coherent ideology. The rationale of economic
nationalism is associated with the expectation that economic
modernisation requires a powerful state; simultaneously, the state
derives its power from the symbolic meaning of the nation.
Therefore, economic development can strengthen the social cement
of the nation by fostering mobilisation and communication among
citizens. Conversely, protectionism in industrial and trade policy
can amplify not only the economy but also nationalism.3
These and other controversies will be the topic of this book. The
book has been conceptualised as an introduction to the vast and
complex research on the nation and nationalism. It has four aims.
First, it will review the existing research on the nation and nation-
alism in a systematic manner. There is a large and growing number
of studies on the nation and nationalism that focus on various
aspects of the phenomena at hand. Our goal, therefore, is to offer
a wide variety of theoretical perspectives not always available in
other monographs. Second, the book will introduce the readers
to the major controversies of the current research on the nation
and nationalism and will discuss them by using specifi c points of
reference. Without aspiring to propose a complete report on the
literature, the book offers an overview of the major contending
approaches to the nation and nationalism and supplements them
with more recent developments in the fi eld. Third, the monograph
will critically assess the existing research and demonstrate the
authors’ own ideas on the nation and nationalism. In particular,
we will present our angle on the systematisation of the concept of
national identity as well as on the relationship between national-
ism, regionalism and European integration. Fourth, the book will
discuss the research on the nation and nationalism in the empiri-
cal context of some selected country cases. Thus, we will enrich
the overview of conceptual and theoretical debates with newer
empirical fi ndings and up-to-date developments.
This introductory chapter proceeds by offering some common
defi nitions of the nation and nationalism. It will show the con-
ceptual variety of both phenomena and will introduce the readers
to this vast fi eld of inquiry. Next, it will discuss some normative,
methodological and theoretical controversies in the research.
This section is meant as an introductory overview, rather than a
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The Nation and Nationalism in Europe
pre-emption of what will be presented in the following chapters.
We will address, among other things, the problématique of bad
and good nationalism, the issue of methodological nationalism and
the classical dichotomy of civic and ethnic nationalism. Against
this background, the structure of the book will be presented.
Common defi nitions
Defi ning a nation
Nations can be generally conceived of as large-scale political com-
munities, frequently with a specifi c cultural background. Even
though there are different conceptualisations of the nation, this
minimal defi nition would fi t the majority of them. Beyond this,
there is not much consensus on what makes the nature of a nation.
Let us briefl y present the most common defi nitions.
First, some authors highlight a specifi c functionality of nations
regarding the survival of modern societies and the legitimacy
of their political elites. In this view, nations have homogenising
effects on the population and promote collective ties, thus fulfi ll-
ing relevant functions concerning modernisation processes and
the legitimisation of mass democracies. The latter function links
nations to the realisation of popular sovereignty and equality
among the members of a political community, alleviating other-
wise existing inequalities in a modern society. In this sense, nations
can be viewed as engines of dignity provision for individuals in
capitalist societies. Nations are the key to mediation between dif-
ferent aspects of experience of a society and between the members
of that society. This mediation enables nations to act as batteries
generating popular power.
Second, an alternative conception of the nation regards it as a
unique form of social consciousness that has contingently devel-
oped and is thus historically anchored. In this understanding,
nations have developed from a contingent consequence of unique
events such as the invention of the printing press or the transla-
tion of the Bible into vernacular languages and are not easily
replaced. This historical nature of nations is also highlighted in
the approaches arguing that nations have developed from a pre-
modern ethnic core. In this sense, even contemporary nations
should be explained against the background of their ethnic origins.
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