Beyond Nationalism And The Nation State

This book centers on one fundamental question: is it possible to imagine a progressive sense of nation? Rooted in historic and contemporary social struggles, the chapters in this collection examine what a progressive sense of nation might look like, with authors exploring the theory and practice of the nation beyond nationalism. The book is written against the background of rising authoritarian-nationalist movements globally over the last few decades, where many countries have witnessed the dramatic escalation of ethnic-nationalist parties impacting and changing mainstream politics and normalizing anti-immigration, anti-democratic and Islamophobic discourse. This volume discusses viable alternatives for nationalism, which is inherently exclusionary, exploring the possibility of a type of nation-based politics which does not follow the principles of nationalism. With its focus on nationalism, politics and social struggles, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political and social sciences.

Bringing fresh insight to an important contemporary debate, Fred Dallmayr and José M. Rosales consider the changing definition of nationalism and the nation-state in our era of globalization. The question mark in the title of this volume points to the multiple issues at stake: what is the meaning of nationalism? Is there only one or possibly multiple types of nationalism? What does it mean to be "beyond" nationalism? Can one safely abandon nationalism and the nation-state? The contributors address these and other concerns, not only through the lenses of institutional and comparative social scientific analysis, but also with an eye toward the "existential" implications for people living in our time: their well-being, legal safety and protection, and sense of identity. Dallmayr and Rosales have structured the book in three parts, leading from theoretical revisions of nationalist theory to contrasting views on globalization and sovereignty to the concluding discussion of human rights. Beyond Nationalism? thus explores some of the most urgent contemporary civic and political challenges raised by a post-national and cosmopolitan reconfiguration of the world order.

It is commonplace that the modern world is more international than at any point in human history. Yet the sheer profusion of terms for describing politics beyond the nation state—including “international,” “European,” “global,” “transnational” and “cosmopolitan,” among others – is but one indication of how conceptually complex this field actually is. Taking a wide view of internationalism(s) in Europe since the eighteenth century, Nationalism and Internationalism Intertwined explores discourses and practices to challenge nation-centered histories and trace the entanglements that arise from international cooperation. A multidisciplinary group of scholars in history, discourse studies and digital humanities asks how internationalism has been experienced, understood, constructed, debated and redefined across different European political cultures as well as related to the wider world.

A Social Theory of the Nation-State construes a novel and original social theory of the nation-state. It rejects nationalistic ways of thinking that take the nation-state for granted as much as globalist orthodoxy that speaks of its current and definitive decline.

This major book by one of the great political and social historians of our time is a study of the force of nationalism, a force that continues to shake our world. Reaching beyond nationalism as a doctrine, beyond the content, psychological origins, and analysis of that doctrine, the book represents and enquiry into all the important political move

Beyond Belief is a bold rethinking of the formation and consolidation of nation-state ideologies. Analyzing India during the first two decades following its foundation as a sovereign nation-state in 1947, Srirupa Roy explores how nationalists are turned into nationals, subjects into citizens, and the colonial state into a sovereign nation-state. Roy argues that the postcolonial nation-state is consolidated not, as many have asserted, by efforts to imagine a shared cultural community, but rather by the production of a recognizable and authoritative identity for the state. This project—of making the state the entity identified as the nation’s authoritative representative—emphasizes the natural cultural diversity of the nation and upholds the state as the sole unifier or manager of the “naturally” fragmented nation; the state is unified through diversity. Roy considers several different ways that identification with the Indian nation-state was produced and consolidated during the 1950s and 1960s. She looks at how the Films Division of India, a state-owned documentary and newsreel production agency, allowed national audiences to “see the state”; how the “unity in diversity” formation of nationhood was reinforced in commemorations of India’s annual Republic Day; and how the government produced a policy discourse claiming that scientific development was the ultimate national need and the most pressing priority for the state to address. She also analyzes the fate of the steel towns—industrial townships built to house the workers of nationalized steel plants—which were upheld as the exemplary national spaces of the new India. By prioritizing the role of actual manifestations of and encounters with the state, Roy moves beyond theories of nationalism and state formation based on collective belief.

A new perspective on how the nation-state emerged and proliferated across the globe, accompanied by a wave of wars. Andreas Wimmer explores these historical developments using social science techniques of analysis and datasets that cover the entire modern world.

Beyond Citizenship and the Nation-State examines tensions between a push for clear boundaries defining nation-states and who “legitimately” belongs in them and a pull away from citizenship as capturing what membership in a political community looks like in the twenty-first century. Borders signify and represent these physical and metaphorical challenges in a world where (anti)migration and (anti)refugee rhetoric are central to the production and reproduction of postcolonial and nationalist political discourse and identity formation. With an expansive view of citizenship, authors challenge dominant narratives, explore alternatives to neoliberal frameworks, and link theory and practice through participatory opportunities for non-citizen political participation. In doing so, they present possibilities for reimagining citizenship for a just, more sustainable future. This book will appeal to academics and practitioners working in the disciplines of Sociology, Social Policy, Human Geography, Political Sciences, Citizenship Studies and Migration Studies. It was originally published as a special issue of New Political Science.

This book explores the origins of nationalism and the ideal of nation/state congruency since early-modern European thought, their transformation over time and endurance in contemporary political thought and IR theory. The author deploys a Lacanian-psychoanalytical reading of nationalism and the nation/state that goes beyond methodological nationalism and state-centrism critiques. He offers a genealogical inquiry into the emergence of the nation/state congruency ideal, thus exposing and problematising the practices that render nationalism and the ideal of the nation/state necessary. Offering a new way to read the ontology and epistemology of the nation/state, this work will be of interest to students and scholars of nations and nationalism, political thought, critical international relations and critical security studies.

Of all of the books produced by Ernst B Haas during his career, Beyond the Nation-State contains the most complete and definitive statement of 'neo-functionalism': the theory of trans-national integration for which he is best known. Focusing on the International Labor Organization (ILO), Beyond the Nation-State was one of the first efforts to analyse systematically the dynamics and effects of a global international institution. This book is regarded as a classic in comparative politics, international relations and amongst students of European Integration and has enjoyed a renaissance with the end of the cold war, reinvigorated European integration, resumed interest in communitarian theorising, and efforts to theorise about forms of global governance which relied on a heightened role for international institutions and their associated policy communities. First published in 1964, this book was part of larger project described by others as 'neofunctionalism', 'regional integration', and 'soft constructivism', which animated Haas throughout his career. Beyond the Nation-State continues to provide valuable guidelines for describing and understanding contemporary IR, and is re-issued with a new introduction by Peter M. Haas, John G. Ruggie, Philippe Schmitter and Antje Wiener, placing this important work in a current context