European Nations And Nationalism

This rich source book informs its reader in a comparative perspective about the political and social-economic past and present of fifteen Western, Central and Eastern European countries. This includes the economic and social aspects of the development of the nation state, descriptions of the current political structures and institutions, an account of the types of ethnic composition of the populations, definitions of citizenship and a background to the existing political parties and preferences. The countries involved are: the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Britain, France, Spain and Italy. The authors are scholars in the fields of nationalism and ethnic conflict and they were invited to write their country chapters along the lines of a common format, paying special attention to the notion of state and nation building processes, citizenship definitions and minority issues. This book is a comprehensive reference guide for students and scholars in the fields of social sciences, European studies, history and other related disciplines and generally to those who are interested in the past and present of any one of the large number of countries described.

An overview of the contending approaches to the nation and nationalism, in a European context

In the history of modern political thought, no topics have attracted as much attention as nationalism, nation-formation, and patriotism. A mass of literature has grown around these vexed issues, muddying the waters, and a level-headed clarification is long overdue. Rather than adding another theory of nationalism to this maelstrom of ideas, Miroslav Hroch has created a remarkable synthesis, integrating apparently competing frameworks into a coherent system that tracks the historical genesis of European nations through the sundry paths of the nation-forming processes of the nineteenth century. Combining a comparative perspective on nation-formation with invaluable theoretical insights, European Nations is essential for anyone who wants to understand the historical roots of Europe's current political crisis.

Nationalism has become so integral a part of life in Europe today that it is virtually impossible not to identify oneself with a nation-state, and yet nationalism is historically a modern phenomenon. This reader of classic texts draws on authors spanning a broad chronological period and from a variety of European countries--including John Stuart Mill and Otto Bauer--to explore the theme of nationalism in Europe. This book provides texts long enough for comprehensive critical study and makes available the central building blocks for informed theoretical discussion. Contributors: Stuart Woolf, John Stuart Mill, Ernest Renan, Otto Bauer, Marcel Mauss, C. A. Macartney, Federico Chabod, John Breuilly, Joshua A. Fishman and Bruno Tobia.

A comparative analysis of the political and social-economic past and present of fifteen European countries. The development of nation states, the nature of political structures, institutions and parties, the ethnic composition of populations and definitions of citizenship are all explored.

This clear and accessible textbook provides an introduction to the key issues now shaping the new Europe and its citizens.

This volume analyses and compares different forms of nationalism across a range of European countries and regions during the long nineteenth century. It aims to put detailed studies of nationalist politics and thought, which have proliferated over the last ten years or so, into a wider European context. By means of such contextualization, together with new and systematic comparisons, What is a Nation? Europe 1789-1914 reassesses the arguments put forward in the principal works on nationalism as a whole, many of which pre-date the proliferation of case studies in the 1990s and which, as a consequence, make only inadequate reference to the national histories of European states. The study reconsiders whether the distinction between civic and ethnic identities and politics in Europe has been overstated and whether it needs to be replaced altogether by a new set of concepts or types. What is a Nation? explores the relationship between this and other typologies, relating them to complex processes of industrialization, increasing state intervention, secularization, democratization and urbanization. Debates about citizenship, political economy, liberal institutions, socialism, empire, changes in the states system, Darwinism, high and popular culture, Romanticism and Christianity all affected - and were affected by - discussion of nationhood and nationalist politics. The volume investigates the significance of such controversies and institutional changes for the history of modern nationalism, as it was defined in diverse European countries and regions during the long nineteenth century. By placing particular nineteenth-century nationalist movements and nation-building in a broader comparative context, prominent historians of particular European states give an original and authoritative reassessment, designed to appeal to students and academic readers alike, of one of the most contentious topics of the modern period.

Nationalism in Europe and America

This book is a revised translation of two works by Miroslav Hroch, which together form a pioneering comparative analysis of the various struggles for national identity in nineteenth-century Europe. It is concerned with the decisive phase of 'national renaissance', when small groups of committed patriots successfully generated mass support. When and why was their propaganda effective? The author attempts to answer this fundamental question by locating the patriots within the contemporary social structure, and uses data derived from many different nationalisms. The work is divided into three sections; a theoretical examination of the origins of nationalism and nation-hood, a quantitative survey of the social and territorial structure of the patriots of eight representative national movements, and a comparative analysis of the social and professional groups that formed the milieu of patriotism. Numerous statistical tables and maps illuminate the text, which forms one of the most significant studies of the nationalist phenomenon to be published in recent years.

From the end of the Second World War until the recent break-up of the communist regimes, there has been a widespread assumption that the age of nationalism had passed and that nationalism was made up of a set of dangerous and disastrous ideas. States andNationalismexamines the ceaseless controversies surrounding the ideas of the nation and nationalism and shows that they are very far from dead in twenty-first century Europe. Beginning by defining these terms and setting out theories and concepts clearly and concisely, this book analyzes the impact of nationalism since the Second World War, covering themes that include the relationship of nationalism to the Cold War; the re-emergence of demands by stateless nations; European integration and globalization and their effects; immigration since the 1970s; the effects of nationalism on the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Yugoslavia.