Why do some violent conflicts endure across the centuries, while others become dimly remembered ancient struggles among forgotten peoples? Is nationalism really the powerful force that it appeared to be in the 1990s? In this wide-ranging and readable set of essays, Charles King examines the conceptual intersection of nationalist ideology, social violence, and the political transformation of Europe and Eurasia over the last two decades. The end of communism seemed to usher in a period of radical change-an era of extreme politicsthat pitted nations, ethnic groups, and violent entrepreneurs against one another, from the wars in the Balkans and Caucasus to the apparent upsurge in nationalist mobilization throughout the region. But the last twenty years have also illustrated the incredible diversity of political life after the end of one-party rule. Understanding these changes requires an appreciation for the multiple pathways from communism, as well as the particular ways in which scholars from the West have engaged with the region. As King shows, recognizing the intellectual predispositions and trajectories in the West is critical to understanding how scholars have interpreted-and at times misinterpreted-the complex politics of the ex-communist East. Extreme Politics engages with themes from the micropolitics of social violence, to the history of nationalism studies, to the nature of migration and demographic change in Eurasia. Published exactly twenty years since the collapse of the Communist system, Extreme Politics charts the end of Eastern Europeas a place and chronicles the ongoing revolution in the scholarly study of Russia, the Balkans, and the wider postcommunist world.

A collection of essays based on an international conference in 1989. The essays examine both the historical dimension of the European idea and the problems of national and transnational identity confronting European integration in the 1990s. Chapters discuss post-modern Europe, Europe and Japan, the European identity, political parties, contemporary feminist movements, socialism, Austrian identity and an essay on Mitterand.

This book engages with some of the most intractable political and social problems of the time - terrorism, ethnic and religious conflict. It reflects originality in urging the application of social theory - in particular Durkheim's lessons for the transformation of France into a unified enlightened nation after the Revolution - in approaching solutions to contemporary political violence. It also challenges conventional role of sociology.Ethno-national and religious identity and violence dominate modern politics, from Northern Ireland to terrorism in Sri Lanka, the former Yugoslavia or Afghanistan and Iraq. Sociology generally has made only a small contribution to the discussion. It is the contention here that sociology, particularly social theory, should be a major tool in helping explain national, religious and identity problems.

An examination of the collaboration between Egyptian and Indian nationalists against the British Empire, this book argues that the basis for Third World or Non-Aligned Movement was formed long before the Cold War. It follows the connections between nationalist activists of both colonies through the first half of the twentieth century using personal memoirs, intelligence reports, journal articles, records of conference proceedings, and secondary literature. It illuminates how Egyptian nationalists recognized a shared dilemma with Indian nationalists and cooperated with them to mobilize against imperialism worldwide.

This important new book considers many of the ways in which national identity was imagined, implemented and contested within Italian culture before, during and after the period of Italian unification in the mid-nineteenth century. Taking a fresh approach towards national icons cherished by both Left and Right, the collection's authors examine the complex interaction between a perceived need for national identity and the fragmented nature of the Italian peninsula. In so doing, they draw on examples from a wide range of artistic and cultural media.
The book opens with an introduction which defines the case of the Italian 'Risorgimento' and places it within a large context of European and global nation-building and nationalism. Authors discuss how episodes from the distant past were used by nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists, musicians, and writers to recreate narratives of nationhood, as well as how the problem of Italian identity was before and during the Risorgimento. The question of who belonged in the new Italy, who remained outsiders, and how social and sexual differences entered into defining these groups is also addressed. The book concludes with an analysis of twentieth-century attempts to appropriate and reforge the 'spirit' of the Risorgimento, under Fascism and in our own time.

Klaus Gallo examines the early 19th-century relationship between Great Britain and the Rio de la Plata--a period that represents a crucial point in the transformation South America into the independent state of Argentina. Gallo highlights the initial ambiguities of British aims, and how the government entertained both conquest and military aid. He shows how the relationship survived this confusion and became much stronger once the Spanish colony gained independence in 1810. He unravels the tangled foreign policy implications for Britain, particularly in terms of its alliance with Spain, which ultimately led to its recognition of Argentina as a sovereign state.

This volume examines the changing role of Marian devotion in politics, public life, and popular culture in Western Europe and America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book brings together, for the first time, studies on Marian devotions across the Atlantic, tracing their role as a rallying point to fight secularization, adversarial ideologies, and rival religions. This transnational approach illuminates the deep transformations of devotional cultures across the world. Catholics adopted modern means and new types of religious expression to foster mass devotions that epitomized the catholic essence of the "nation." In many ways, the development of Marian devotions across the world is also a response to the questioning of Pope Sovereignty. These devotional transformations followed an Ultramontane pattern inspired not only by Rome but also by other successful models approved by the Vatican such as Lourdes. Collectively, they shed new light on the process of globalization and centralization of Catholicism.

Significant recent research on the German Right between 1918 and 1933 calls into question received narratives of Weimar political history. The German Right in the Weimar Republic examines the role that the German Right played in the destabilization and overthrow of the Weimar Republic, with particular emphasis on the political and organizational history of Rightist groups as well as on the many permutations of right-wing ideology during the period. In particular, antisemitism and the so-called "Jewish Question" played a prominent role in the self-definition and politics of the right-wing groups and ideologies explored by the contributors to this volume.

Dissident ethnic networks were a crucial independent institution in the Soviet Union. Voicing the discontent and resentment of the periphery at the policies of the center or metropole, the dissident writings, known as samizdat highlighted anger at deprivations imposed in the political, cultural, social, and economic spheres. Ethnic dissident writings drew on values both internal to the Soviet system and international as sources of legitimation; they met a divided reaction among Russians, with some privileging the unity of the Soviet Union and others sympathetic to the rhetoric of national rights. This focus on national, rather than individual rights, along with the appropriation of ethnonationalism by political elites, helps explain developments since the fall of the Soviet Union, including the prevalence of authoritarian governments in newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen are two countries of crucial importance in the Middle East and yet our knowledge about them is highly limited, while typical ways of looking at the histories of these countries have impeded understanding. Counter-Narratives brings together a group of leading scholars of the Middle East using new theoretical and methodological approaches to cross-examine standard stories, whether as told by Westerners or by Saudis and Yemenis, and these are found wanting. The authors assess how grand historical narratives such as those produced by states and colonial powers are currently challenged by multiple historical actors, a process which generates alternative narratives about identity, the state and society.

This book explores the evolution of Irish constitutional nationalism from the fall of Parnell to the rise of Sinn Fein, when the two competing wings of conciliators and militants struggled bitterly for control of the movement. The author, stressing the grass roots dimensions of this rift, shows that while the advocates of conciliation took a peaceful path, striving to achieve a modus vivendi with the protestants who opposed home rule, the supporters of militancy stressed the need for vigilance and strict maintenance of the Catholic nationalist tradition.

Why do so many people take-for-granted the idea that they live in and belong to a nation? Do national identities matter and, if so, to whom? To what extent are processes of globalisation undermining or reinforcing attachments to the nation? Drawing on insights from sociology, social psychology and anthropology, Michael Skey addresses these complex questions by examining the views and attitudes of a group that has been overlooked in much of the recent literature; the ethnic majority. Through a detailed analysis of the ways in which members of the majority in England discuss their own attachments, their anxieties about the future, and, in particular, their relations with minority groups, Skey demonstrates the link between a more settled sense of national belonging and claims to key material and psycho-social resources. By analysing what is at stake for the majority, the book offers a more complete understanding of recent controversies over immigration, multiculturalism and community cohesion in Western settings, as well as a framework for theorising the significance of nationhood in the contemporary era.

This offers an alternative to the colonialist and nationalist explanations of the Mau Mau revolt, examining a widely studied period of Kenyan history from a new perspective.

This is a unique study of how language politics and nationalisms interacted in the nineteenth century, shaping the European national movements which were to found nation-states in the century to follow. It includes: uniquely focussed study of language politics; comparative approach covering four key languages (Czech, Magyar Hungarian], Polish, and Slovak; and wide-ranging scope dealing with the political, social and cultural history of Central Europe.This work focuses on the ideological intertwining between Czech, Magyar, Polish and Slovak, and the corresponding nationalisms steeped in these languages. The analysis is set against the earlier political and ideological history of these languages, and the panorama of the emergence and political uses of other languages of the region.

The French Revolution began by welcoming foreigners to France. The revolutionaries sought to attract those who might have been useful. By the Terror, however, this early promise had given way to repression. This dramatic transformation reveals much about the development of national identities and the origins of modern concepts of nationality and citizenship.

In recent years, nationalism has reasserted itself globally as a potent, mobilizing political force. In Turkey, the perilous state of politics--indeed the crisis of identity in the state itself--is a symptom of the rift between the secular and Islamic nationalists, today the focus of intense and acrimonious debate.

In The Top Hat, the Grey Wolf, and the Crescent, Hugh Poulton traces the evolution of nationalism in Turkey since the days of the Ottoman empire, through the rule of Attatrk when secularism became the binding force of a new national identity, to the present when a Western liberal middle class battles an increasingly powerful Islamic movement. Starting with an examination of nationalism as a political ideology, Poulton profiles in detail the main contenders in the battle for Turkey's identity: the Top Hat (secular nationalism), the Grey Wolf (the pan-Turkist fringe), and the Crescent (pro- Islamic forces). Poulton also considers the effects of Turkish nationalism on various minority groups, including the Kurds and the Alevis, and sheds lights on the nationalist sentiments of Turks outside Turkey.

The historic myths of a people/nation usually play an important role in the creation and consolidation of the basic concepts from which the self-image of that nation derives. These concepts include not only images of the nation itself, but also images of other peoples. Although the construction of ethnic stereotypes during the "long" nineteenth century initially had other functions than simply the homogenization of the particular culture and the exclusion of "others" from the public sphere, the evaluation of peoples according to criteria that included "level of civilization" yielded "rankings" of ethnic groups within the Habsburg Monarchy. That provided the basis for later, more divisive ethnic characterizations of exclusive nationalism, as addressed in this volume that examines the roots and results of ethnic, nationalist, and racial conflict in the region from a variety of historical and theoretical perspectives.

Was America founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? In the paperback edition of this critically acclaimed book, a constitutional attorney settles the debate about religion's role in America's founding. In today's contentious political climate, understanding religion's role in American government is more important than ever. Christian nationalists assert that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and advocate an agenda based on this popular historical claim. But is this belief true? The Founding Myth answers the question once and for all. Andrew L. Seidel builds his case by comparing the Ten Commandments to the Constitution and contrasting biblical doctrine with America's founding philosophy, showing that the Declaration of Independence contradicts the Bible. Thoroughly researched, this persuasively argued and fascinating book proves that America was not built on the Bible and that Christian nationalism is un-American. Includes a new epilogue reflecting on the role Christian nationalism played in fomenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection in DC and the warnings the nation missed.

By critically addressing the tension between nationalism and human rights that is presumed in much of the existing literature, the essays in this volume confront the question of how we should construe human rights: as a normative challenge to the excesses of modernity, particularly those associated with the modern nation-state, or as an adjunct of globalization, with its attendant goal of constructing a universal civilization based on neoliberal economic principles and individual liberty.

Beginning with an analysis of Catalonia's integration within the Spanish nation-building project between from 1770, and following the growing tensions between both the Spanish state and its allies and Catalan social, cultural and political elites, this book focuses on the reasons behind the rise of Catalan nationalism in the late nineteenth century.

This book contends that there is a fundamental logic underlying the participation of non-elites in the nationalist enterprise. In order to understand this logic we must cast aside the standard myopia ingrained in most Rational Choice analysis. Those blinders restrict the realm of payoffs to the pursuit of tangible goods and incorrectly assume that all group members -- elites and non-elites alike -- pursue the same payoffs. We cannot understand the true nature of nationalist movements until we take into account that elite and mass strata have different motivations for supporting the same cause. There is an elite calculus and a non-elite strategy simultaneously operating under the aegis of an ethnically defined and supposedly unitary operation.

"The book claims that its primary aim is to reconcile unity and diversity by offering an interdisciplinary approach to questions of European identity/identities. Despite the variety of approaches and themes devel-oped, the book successfully bridges this interdisciplinarity and provides a coherent flow of analysis of European identity which, as the title best illustrates, still remains a puzzle to be explored. The book therefore highlights the complexity of constructing European identity from political and cultural means...Overall it intellectually alerts the reader to some of the most significant challenges facing European identity and will be very useful to experts in the field." . Political Studies Review

The twin concepts of "Culture" and "Identity" are inescapable in any discussion of European Integration and yet over the last ten years their meaning has become increasingly contested. By combining an anthropological and political perspective, the authors challenge the traditional boundaries within the issue of the construction of Europe. In the first part, historians and anthropologists from various national traditions discuss the process of the construction of Europe and its implications for cultural identities. The second section examines a number of topics at the core of the process of Europeanization and presents up-to-date information on each of these issues: political parties, regions, football, cities, the Euro, ethnicity, heritage and European cinema. Emphasis is be placed on the political structuring of cultural identities by contrasting top-down and bottom-up processes that define the tensions between the unity and diversity of the European Community.

Marion Demossier is a senior lecturer in French and Anthropology at the University of Bath. She is the co-ordinator of a postgraduate Euromasters and Trans-Atlantic Masters course on 'Culture and identity in Europe' which has provided the material for this book. She has published extensively on the Anthropology of rural France and has recently edited a book on Recollections of France: Memories, Identities and Heritage (Berghahn, 2001). Her first monograph Hommes et Vins, une anthropologie du vignoble bourguignon was published in 1999 (editions universitaires de Dijon) and won a prize. She is currently preparing a monograph on Wine Culture and Consumption in France.

insightful and informative .the essays in this volume contribute to a better understanding of nationalism and nation-building in multicultural East Central Europe. . German Studies Review The hundred years between the revolutions of 1848 and the population transfers of the mid-twentieth century saw the nationalization of culturally complex societies in East Central Europe. This fact has variously been explained in terms of modernization, state building and nation-building theories, each of which treats the process of nationalization as something inexorable, a necessary component of modernity. Although more recently social scientists gesture to the contingencies that may shape these larger developments, this structural approach makes scholars far less attentive to the hard work (ideological, political, social) undertaken by individuals and groups at every level of society who tried themselves to build national societies. The essays in this volume make us aware of how complex, multi-dimensional and often contradictory this nationalization process in East Central Europe actually was. The authors document attempts and failures by nationalist politicians, organizations, activists and regimes from 1848 through 1948 to give East-Central Europeans a strong sense of national self-identification. They remind us that only the use of dictatorial powers in the 20th century could actually transform the fantasy of nationalization into a reality, albeit a brutal one. Pieter M. Judson is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Swarthmore College. His book Exclusive Revolutionaries: Liberal Politics, Social Experience and National Identity 1848-1914 (Michigan, 1996) won the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize of the American historical Association in 1997 and the Austrian Cultural institute's book prize in 1998. Marsha L. Rozenblit is the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Jewish History at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the author of The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity (State University of New York Press, 1983) and Reconstructing a National Identity: The Jews of Habsburg Austria during World War I (Oxford University Press, 2001).