This volume is part of an annual series which brings together studies of current issues in the former USSR and Eastern Europe, providing coverage of both domestic and international developments. It is designed to bridge the gap between specialist research and journalistic accounts.

During the Cold War, nationalism fell from favour among theorists as
an explanatory factory in history, as Marxists and liberals looked to
class and individualism as the drivers of change. The resurgence of
nationalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, called for
a reconsideration of nationalism and its role in history.

Against Orthodoxy uses case studies from around the world
to critically evaluate more than a quarter-century of scholarship. The
essays in this volume reveal that although theories of nationalism have
benefitted from fresh insights, they have also ossified into a new set
of orthodoxies: some scholars characterize nationalism as an outgrowth
of modernity, others view it as a European export, and still others see
it as the brainchild of intellectuals. From North America to the
Balkans and from Japan to Ethiopia, these theoretically informed and
empirically grounded studies challenge some of these orthodoxies and
offer new ways of thinking about nationalism as they explore four key
themes: theory and history, minorities and multiculturalism in the
nation-state, politics and the state, and the projection of nationalism
onto the international stage.

Collectively, the authors demonstrate that nationalism is not a
singular phenomenon but rather a generative force reflecting complex
historical, political, and cultural arrangements that defy simplistic
explanations.

Trevor W. Harrison is a professor of sociology at the
University of Lethbridge, associate director of the same
university's Prentice Institute for Global Population and
Economics, and co-founder and director of the Parkland Institute at the
University of Alberta. Slobodan Drakulic was an
associate professor of sociology at Ryerson University.

There is a recurrent hypothesis that nationalism has become modernity's hegemonic Geist, countered by those who view nationalism as an evanescent epiphenomenon of modernity. Therefore a quandary: Has nationalism become the supreme Geist of modern time and may it become such? To address it, the four sections of this volume discuss the epistemological validity of "time signs;" examine the views of twenty-five authors, including Engels, Acton, Renan, Hayes, Kohn, Gellner and Hobsbawm; present the record of successful nation-making between 1750 and 2000 as an indicator of the prestige and power of nationalism; and conclude that modernity remains a contested time, with nationalism competing against liberalism, socialism and clericalism, and entwining with them, such that they shade into each other. Modernity is thus not an age of nationalism, but is nonetheless thoroughly nationalistic. This book should be useful for university courses in nationalism, global studies, imperialism, war and social theory. It should also interest all readers wishing to understand some of our world's most disconcerting yet fascinating issues and debates.