Nationalism / National Identity / Language Flashcards
What revived interest in nationalism?
The revival of nationalism in the Western World (e.g. Ulster, Basques, Quebec)
How should we categorise nationalism according to Andersen?
As belonging with kinship, religion etc. Not fascism. No big thinkers of its own
How does Gellner view nationalism?
As “primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and national unit should be cogent”
If the state is the ‘shell’…
Nation is the substance
How does Cobban define a nation?
“Any territorial community, the members of which are conscious of themselves as members of a community”
The people are politically and culturally ‘what’?
The body of citizens, and the Volk (defined by language/race)
How does nation differ from other forms of kinship?
Due to the centrality of the territory
How does the nation differ from other territorial societies?
Uniform culture; provides stability and continuity over time
How has Hobsbawm described the nation?
As a macro-family, a pseudo-religion, a team
How important is ‘territory’?
Nation requires an extensive, bounded territory, or the image of such a territory
What is an example of a nation without a state?
Kurdistan
How has Seton-Watson viewed the attempt to define the nation?
There is no scientific definition, but the phenomena exists and existed
What widely accepted idea is challenged by Hobsbawm?
Not defined by members’ consciousness; suggests that all that is needed is the will to be a nation
How does Hobsbawm define a nation?
As “any sufficiently large body of people whose members regard themselves as a member of a nation”
How did Stalin define a nation in 1912?
As a historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make up manifested in a community of culture
What is a quote from Andersen about what is a nation?
A nation is an imagined political community; and imagined as inherently limited and sovereign
Why does Anderson view the nation as sovereign?
Because it is born after the age when legitimacy of divinely ordained, dynastic realms had been destroyed
Why does Anderson view the nation as a community?
Because the nation is conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.
How can we define nationalism?
As a set of beliefs about the nation
How has Hobsbawm defined nationalism?
As the concept of the nation, rather than the reality it represents. The principle which holds political and national unit together
What historians have viewed nationalism as an identity, a means of categorising oneself and others, fulfilling the fundamental human need for labelling?
McCrone, Penrose, Hopkins
Who have seen nationalism as an ideological system of morally charged beliefs about the world?
Kedourie, Smith, Greenfield
How does Anderson view nationality and nation-ness?
As cultural artefacts
What is Hastings’ definition of nationalism?
The political theory that each nation should have its own state and the belief that one’s own ethnic/national tradition is especially valuable and needs to be defended at almost any cost. Nationalism the movement that seeks to provide a state for a given nation
When does Hastings see nationalism as arising?
When an ethnicity/nation feels threatened in regard to its proper character, extent or importance.
How does Kristeva see nationalism?
As the sense of belonging to a mother country - psychological
What four things made nationalism happen in the modern age?
Democracy, social mobility, education, technological advancement
Who first used nationalisme in a pejorative sense?
Barruel 1798
Name two primordialists?
Scales and Zimmer (criticise concept of “pre-modern”)
What three things enabled it to be possible to ‘imagine’ the nation?
When religion, monarchy lost ground, and conception of temporality
Who argues that felt history is more important than factual?
Connor
What what does Gellner argue nationalism came into existence?
Industrialism
What gives nationalism its power?
Natural appearance (“Nationalism creates nations where they did not previously exist”)
What does nationalism presuppose?
Organised movement and explicitly ideological programme
What modern thing does Andersen stress was crucial?
Print capitalism
Name a primordialist who takes the long-duree approach (ethnic resurgence and decline)
Reynolds
Who argues that nationalism is populist?
Nairn (induces masses into politics)
What was count 1 against Louis XVI?
Attacked sovereignty of the people
What did Robespierre say about Louis XVI?
“Louis must die, because la patrie must live”
What does Strachan argue the French Revolution established a link between?
Political rights and civic responsibilities
What percentage of the National Guard was artisans/shopkeepers?
48%
What was the desertion rate in the French army in 1793?
8%
Who saw nationalism as a malign force?
Hobsbawm
How can national wars be seen?
Test of collective fitness
Who argues that facism is a perversion of nationalism?
Best q
Who argues that the nation is self-defining?
Connor
At what point does an ethnic group become a nation?
When it is aware of its uniqueness
What do memories provide, according to Anderson? What do myths provide?
An identity. Collective purpose.
Who do both Gellner and Hosbbawm stress?
Social engineering behind nations
How many Arab states are there?
22
What is Zionism without the tie to Eretz Israel?
just a religious community
What does Avineri argue is the most distinctive feature of Jewish self-identity?
Attachment to Israel
What is a good definition of Zionism?
The re-imagining of an ancient religious community as a nation
What is a key difference between religious and secular Zionists?
Religious preoccupied with future, secular with past
What has Zionism used selectively to attract and give legitimacy?
traditional Jewish motifs and symbols
What by definition come in contrastive sets?
Ethnic groups
