“It is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way round”

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

8 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

01/15/2009

Category :

Political science

Sub category :

Social sciences

Oboulo.com selection criteria

$ 16.95 Add to cart

Summary :

Introduction.
How a modern conception of the nation has emerged.
1. Was Ancien Regime France a nation-state?
2. A 'process of destabilization'.
3. Did nationalism engender the French nation?
4. Western European societies evolution into an age of industrialisation.
5. The dual revolution which shaped nineteenth-century Europe.
6. Nations: Not natural facts but the results of intellectual constructions carried out by nationalists.
The creation of the German nation.
Dominant trends in the creation of a national past.
Unificatory nationalism.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.

Abstract

"Where does the German begin? Where does it end? May a German smoke? The majority says no. May a German wear gloves? Yes, but only of buffalo hide but a German may drink beer, indeed as a true son of Germania he should drink beer" wrote in 1840 Heinrich Heine, who was quite critical of German nationalists' motivation to find specific characteristics in order to affirm Germans' singularity. The affirmation of the nation, regarded as a people who share ethnic, linguistic, historical and cultural features, was however a particularly strong phenomenon then in Europe. Ernest Gellner, in nations and nationalism , argues that "it is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way round". Such a statement can seem contradictory at a time when the word 'nationalism' is more generally seen as a feeling of pride in one's country and as a belief that the latter is superior to other countries. However, it is relevant to wonder to what extent it can be argued that, in nineteenth-century Europe, it was nationalisms that produced nations (as a feeling and a political reality). We will mainly focus on the nineteenth century because it marked the emergence of the modern concept of nation, namely the convergence of will and culture with a political entity .