Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction

Description

This widely-used and highly-acclaimed text provides a comprehensive and balanced introduction to the main theoretical perspectives on nationalism. The 3rd edition has been revised and updated throughout and includes a new chapter on the practical outworking of theory in the contemporary politics of nationalism. Cover Contents List of Boxes Preface to the Third Edition Chapter 1 Introduction Nations and nationalism Nationalism studies Objectives Outline Chapter 2 Discourses and Debates on Nationalism Historical overview Chapter 3 Primordialism/Perennialism What is primordialism? The nationalist thesis Pierre van den Berghe and the sociobiological approach Edward Shils, Clifford Geertz and the culturalist approach Adrian Hastings and perennialism A critique of primordialism and perennialism Primordialism and perennialism today Chapter 4 Modernism What is modernism? Economic transformations Political transformations Social/cultural transformations A critique of modernism Modernism today Chapter 5 Ethnosymbolism What is ethnosymbolism? John Armstrong and myth-symbol complexes Anthony D. Smith and the ethnic origins of nations A critique of ethnosymbolism Ethnosymbolism today Chapter 6 Contemporary Approaches to Nationalism Why ‘contemporary’? Michael Billig and banal nationalism Nira Yuval-Davis, feminism and the politics of belonging Partha Chatterjee and postcolonial theory Craig Calhoun and nationalism as discursive formation Rogers Brubaker and ethnicity without groups Andreas Wimmer and ethnic boundary making A critique of contemporary approaches The outline of a social constructionist approach to nationalism Chapter 7 Nationalism: Theory and Practice A critique of the theoretical debate on nationalism Rethinking nationalism studies: the ‘double challenge’ Epilogue: the imagined community of nationalism scholars Bibliography Index