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From the Third Reich to Bosnia, nationalism - a sense of a nation's place in the world - has been responsible for much bloodshed. Nationalism may be manipulated by political leaders or governments but it springs from the people. Something in the history and environment of a national group creates it. This volume aims to locate and analyze the myth of national identity and its value in creating pride, deflecting fear or legitimating aggression. A range of essays - on Britain, the United States, Germany, Russia, Iraq, Serbia, Argentina, Australia, and India - illustrate the different manifestations of the geographical imagination across the countries of the world.

When the Hapsburg monarchy disintegrated after World War I, Austria was not considered to be a viable entity. In a vacuum of national identity the hapless country drifted toward a larger Germany. After World War II, Austrian elites constructed a new identity based on being a "victim" of Nazi Germany. Cold war Austria, however, envisioned herself as a neutral "island of the blessed" between and separate from both superpower blocs. Now, with her membership in the European Union secured, Austria is reconstructing her painful historical memory and national identity. In 1996 she celebrates her 1000-year anniversary.

In this volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies, Franz Mathis and Brigitte Mazohl-Wallnig argue that regional identities in Austria have deeper historical roots than the many artificial and ineffective attempts to construct a national identity. Heidemarie Uhl, Anton Pelinka, and Brigitte Bailer discuss the post-World War II construction of the victim mythology. Robert Herzstein analyses the crucial impact of the 1986 Waldheim election imploding Austria's comforting historical memory as a "nation of victims." Wolfram Kaiser shows Austria's difficult adjustments to the European Union and the larger challenges of constructing a new "European identity." Chad Berry's analysis of American World War II memory establishes a useful counterpoint to construction of historical memory in a different national context.

A special forum on Austrian intelligence studies presents a fascinating reconstruction by Timothy Naftali of the investigation by Anglo-American counterintelligence into the retreat of Hitler's troops into the Alps during World War II. Rudiger Overmans' "research note" presents statistics on lower death rates of Austrian soldiers in the German army. Review essays by Gunther Kronenbitter and Gunter Bischof, book reviews, and a 1995 survey of Austrian politics round out the volume. Austrian Historical Memory and National Identity will be of intense interest to foreign policy analysts, historians, and scholars concerned with the unique elements of identity and nationality in Central European politics.

Challenges to received ideas of the nation-state and sovereignty are forcing us to `rethink' Ireland. The issue of sovereignty, which has bedevilled Irish-British relations, is trapped between the competing forces of globalisation and demands for greater regional democracy.
Richard Kearney proposes the overcoming of this `sovereignty neurosis', requiring not only a recasting of the political identity of Ireland, but also a re-imagining of the cultural, literary and philosophical heritage. Only then can the inherited political notions of nationalism, national identity and republicanism be unravelled.

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Football, Nationality and the State examines the complex and ever-changing relationship between football (its development and structure), nationality and the state. Divided into two parts the book first deals with the existence of more than one football nation within the same political state. Using international comparisons the authors argue that these divisions may result from football's early history and development, regional movements for independence, or the growth of a language cleavage. The second part of the book goes on to examine the structure of football as an extension, or reflection, of the structure of the state. Resulting structures include the imposition of state socialism on sport, the presence of democratic politics in the organisation of football clubs and the links between big business and football.

Challenges to received ideas of the nation-state and sovereignty are forcing us to `rethink' Ireland. The issue of sovereignty, which has bedevilled Irish-British relations, is trapped between the competing forces of globalization and demands for greater regional democracy.
Richard Kearney proposes the overcoming of this `sovereignty neurosis', requiring not only a recasting of the political identity of Ireland, but also a re-imagining of the cultural, literary and philosophical heritage. Only then can the inherited political notions of nationalism, national identity and republicanism be unravelled.

Many disenchanted Kashmiris continue to demand independence or freedom from India. Written by a leading authority on Kashmir's troubled past, this book revisits the topic of independence for the region (also known as Jammu and Kashmir, or J&K), and explores exactly why this aspiration has never been fulfilled. In a rare India-Pakistan agreement, they concur that neither J&K, nor any part of it, can be independent. Charting a complex history and intense geo-political rivalry from Maharaja Hari Singh's leadership in the mid-1920s to the present, this book offers an essential insight into the disputes that have shaped the region. As tensions continue to rise following government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns, Snedden asks a vital question: what might independence look like and just how realistic is this aspiration? -- .

Recent years have seen a re-examination of Britain's imperialist past, with changes to how its citizens understand, study and scrutinize its history. In Britain's Contested History, eminent historian Bernard Porter explores the most contested aspects of British history from 1800 to the present day. Examining issues such as Brexit, recent reassessments of Winston Churchill's historical record, the so-called 'culture wars' and Britain's uncomfortable reckoning with its imperial past, the book reconsiders what it means to be a "patriot" in Britain.

"Fashioning Masculinity" is a comparison of Anglo-French relations in the eighteenth century, themes of gender, nationality, identity and masculinity with perceptions of today. The fashioning of English gentlemen in the eighteenth century was modelled on French practices. At the same time, however, the French and their language were disparaged. Michele Cohen show how cultural relations between the two states were constructed as relations of seduction and desire. There was anxiety on the part of the English over the effect of French practices on English masculinity and the virtue of English women. By the end of the century representing the French as an effeminate Other was integral to the forging of English, masculine, national identity. Taciturnity became emblematic of the English gentleman's depth of mind and masculinity. Sprightly conversation and speaking foreign languages was seen as representing the shallow and inferior intellect of English women, and of the French of both sexes.

Since unification, fears of resurgent German nationalism have mounted. In particular, many believe united Germany is reverting to a xenophobic nationalist stance to deal with the increased pressures of migration unleashed by the raising of the Iron curtain. The author argues that these fears are exaggerated. He documents a longstanding, steadily increasing, committment to the liberal principles of the Basic Law in the Federal Republic's policies, which protect foreigners against hostile German nationalism. O'Brien goes on to criticize the very entrenched liberalism which holds German nationalism in check. He traces among German political elites the appeal and uses of "technocratic liberalism" - an overzealous protection of Germany's liberal democracy which, paradoxically, prevents minority groups from achieving full rights of political participation.

In 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to break with the communist empire by declaring the restitution of political independence. Depicting a country at the crossroads of imperial designs, Vardys and Sedaitis trace the history, development, and ultimate triumph of the Lithuanian nation.They begin by exploring Lithuania's pagan ancestry and epochal struggles with Germanic and Russian states, with special emphasis on the first period of political independence between the two World Wars and on the effort to regain freedom in the wake of the perestroika reforms. The authors conclude by examining Lithuania's struggle with the legacy of Soviet rule as it strives to establish democracy and economic prosperity.

"Predictable postmodernist analysis of Ecuador's national identity. Examines gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Case study of nation's development out of inchoate space"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

"Predictable postmodernist analysis of Ecuador's national identity. Examines gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Case study of nation's development out of inchoate space"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

Drawing on diverse cultural forms, and ranging across disciplinary boundaries, Nation States maps the contested cultural terrain of Irish nationalism from the Act of Union of 1800 to the present. In looking at Irish nationalism as a site of struggle, Mays examines both the myriad ways in which the nation fashions itself as the a priori ground of identity, and those processes through which nationalism engenders an ostensibly unique national identity corresponding to one and only one nation-state, the place where we always have been, and can only ever be, at home.

Until 1923 there were large Greek populations outside the boundaries of the Greek state in many areas of the Near and Middle East. These constituted what the Greeks term I kath'imas Anatoli ('our East') and were the focus for the Megali Idea, the 'Great Idea' of incorporating the Greeks of the region within a single state, with Constantiople as its capital. Professor Clogg deals here with the history of this Greek East in the 18th and 19th centuries and at the same time makes a contribution to the study of the Ottoman world within which they lived. The opening articles examine how these communities were defined, in religious terms (many were Turkish-speaking), and their organisation as part of the Ottoman system of government. Further studies then look at factors, economic, intellectual and messianic, which contributed to the emergence of the Greek state and its expansionist aspirations, and at aspects of religious history, including Protestant missionary activity and the Orthodox reaction to Enlightenment thought.

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity.
Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the 'national question'. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavla and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War.
Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that 'nations' are not 'natural' phenomena but 'constructed' forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. Why should so many movements across the continent be seeking to preserve or replicate a mode of political organisation whose efficacy and legitimacy is increasingly open to doubt? Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, less and less are able to 'deliver the goods' in terms of policy or to provide the primary focus for social identity, the nation state faces an uncertain future.
This book examines the many manifestations of this ambivalent process across Europe, focusing both on the specifics of national identity in individual countries and on the external forces that are shaping contemporary perceptions and reactions - economic globalisation and European supranationalism, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Eastern bloc, mass migratory movements and North-South tensions. In this wider context, the resurgence of nationalism appears less like a paradox than like an 'epiphenomenon' of the crisis of nation-state structures, more virulent in the disintegrating state formations of Eastern Europe but equally visible in the introspective national self-doubt afflicting many West European states in the 'new world order'. The quest for identity and meaning in a world dominated by market consumerism and bereft of alternative social models may all too easily find consolation in chauvinsim and ethnic nationalism.
Drawing on this global perspective, Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe offers a rich analysis of the 'national question' in nine major European countries. It reaffirms the point that, like all forms of social identity, 'nation' is an ideological construct and that 'nationalism' is a distinctly political programme. They are not timeless 'natural' phenomena, but they neither are they 'fated' to disappear. Their future will be determined in the political arena.

Throughout Europe longstanding ideas of what it means to be a citizen are being challenged. The sense of belonging to a nation has never been more in flux. Simultaneously, nationalistic and racist movements are gaining ground and barriers are being erected against immigration. This volume examines how concepts of citizenship have evolved in different countries and varying contexts. It explores the interconnection between ideas of the nation, modes of citizenship and the treatment of migrants. Adopting a multi-disciplinary and international approach, this collection brings together experts from several fields including political studies, history, law and sociology. By juxtaposing four European countries - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - and setting current trends against a historical background, it highlights important differences and exposes similarities in the urgent questions surrounding citizenship and the treatment of minorities in Europe today.

This book offers an original contribution to the debate on contemporary democratic ethics. It argues that public culture provides the mediating spaces required for processes of encounter, but should be supplemented with an open dialogue on history, memory, and identity. Since democratic modernity is consolidating its new phase characterized by the multiplicity of perspectives, the mediation of conflict, identity, and memory are required to continue fostering mutual understanding and the identification of issues of common concern. The historical emergence of a public culture is a democratic gain. Recognizing this offers opportunities for ethical transformation that respects diversity but also addresses the realities of conflict under conditions of postmodernity.

This paperback reader provides the student and general reader with easy access to the major issues of the Hong Kong transition crisis. Contributors include both editors, as well as Frank Ching, Berry F. Hsu, Reginald Yin-wang Kwok, Peter Kwong, Julian Y.M. Leung, Ronald Skeldon, Alvin Y. So, Yun-wing Sung, and James T.H. Tang - the majority of whom live and work in Hong Kong and experience the transition firsthand, personally and professionally.

"We fight, therefore we are." This revision of Cartesian wisdom was enunciated by the late premier of Israel, Menachim Begin. It is the "leitmotif "of this brilliant study of the military origins of modern Israel. J. Bowyer Bell argues that the members of Irgun, Lehi (the Stern Gang), and the Zionist underground in British mandated Palestine had clear motives for the violent path they took: the creation of a sovereign homeland for the Jewish people in oppressed lands. These advocates of terror pitted themselves against not only the British and the Arabs, but also against less violent brethren like Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan, and Yitzhak Rabin.

This is the definitive story of desperate, dedicated revolutionaries who were driven to conclude that lives must be taken if Israel were to live. The dynamite bombing of the King David Hotel, the assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo, and Count Bernardotte, in Palestine were but a few acts of terror which forced the British out of the Middle East. "Terror Out of Zion "evaluates whether these acts were extremist or necessary, and whether these men and women were fanatics or freedom fighters.

"Terror Out of Zion "serves as a primer for those who would understand contemporary political divisions in Israel. It is based on careful historical research and interviews with surviving members of the Irgun, chronicling bombings, assassinations, hah- breadth prison escapes, and endless cycles of retaliation in the terror that gave birth to Israel, but, no less, continues to inform its political relations. Bell has fashioned an adventure story that also explains the sources of current tensions and frictions within Israel.

"Publishers' Weekly "wrote that "Bell's book crackles with suspense and explodes with tales of carnage and violence; it could hardly be otherwise. Yet he writes with compassion and insight into the black despair that engendered the terrorist's brutal deeds." And a highly laudatory "New York Times "review said "excellent ... a skillfully written, fast-paced anecdotal narrative of one of the bloodiest and least documented chapters of Zionist history . . . the story is more than mere history; it is detailed portrait of the formulating experiences of Israel's new leadership."

Provides conceptual insights that put the reader in a position to come to grips intellectually with the complex weave of Chinese nationalist sentiment today and in the future.

Nationalism is once again rising and spreading. Nationlist movements are active throughout the world, demanding political recognition of their nations' identity. Yet the current revival of nationalism has taken place alongside claims that nation-states are becoming obsolete in an increasingly globalized world. In addition, now perhaps more than ever, people are conscious of humanity as a whole and are ready to take seriously the international dimensions of morality.In this collection of timely essays, distinguished moral and political philosophers examine issues raised by the competing claims of nationhood and internationalism from a variety of perspectives, and defend a variety of answers. Questions discussed include: Is humanity really divided into nations or are nations invented by nationalists? Does a nation have the right to be self-determining? If so, must each nation form a separate and sovereign state? Do our obligations stop at national boundaries? Do we not have obligations to human beings as such? Why then should we be less concerned about "foreigners" than about our compatriots? Can we be concerned for social justice within societies yet not across the world as a whole? If we embrace ideas of human rights and global obligations, how do we establish what those rights and obligations actually are? Is it proper, plausible, or practical to aspire to such universal moral principles in a world characterized by national diversity and cultural difference?

Embodied Idolatry: A Critique of Christian Nationalism is an examination of the effect of Christian nationalism on Christian practice in the United States. Kyle Edward Haden focuses on the mechanisms by which such beliefs become sedimented into the emotional, embodied structures of the church and the individual. Using a variety of disciplines, Haden thus identifies and highlights how such beliefs and practices are, in fact, idolatrous and inhabit an anti-Christian theological and ethical space. This book describes the formative process and mechanisms by which social and cultural values are acquired through imitation, by the individual and within ecclesial communities. As a constructive countermeasure, it investigates Jesus's practice in his own social, cultural, political, religious, and economic context, and argues that Christian nationalism is a betrayal of Jesus's teachings in light of his own practice of hospitality and table fellowship. This book thus calls Christians to conversion, putting loyalty to the kingdom of God over that of the nation.

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.