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The primordial bonds of early societies-common ancestry or tribal
bonds and territorial or neighborhood bonds-are at the root of
early political organization. States based on common tribal or
ethnic identity have tended to develop into highly nationalistic
states. The civic state, based upon territory, appeared in
embryonic form in Athens. It was Rome, however, that made the
complete transition, creating a civic state based on an association
of free citizens, irrespective of ethnicity. The tribal state in
its extreme, often totalitarian, form has led to genocide,
holocausts, and ethnic cleansing. The civic or territorial state
has developed into modern pluralistic, multiethnic, democratic
states with equal rights for diverse groups. This was accomplished
by a historical process of separation of ethnicity from
citizenship. As Feliks Gross shows, there are many types of civic
and tribal states: they do not fit into a single model, but they
can be grouped into related families. This important survey of
political and social development will be of great interest to
students and scholars of political sociology, ethnic studies, and
political history.
Today, all industrialized states are multinational. However, as
Political Sociologist Feliks Gross points out, there remains
considerable debate and experimentation on how to organize a
multiethnic, democratic, and humane state. Gross examines various
types of multiethnic states as well as their early origins and
prospects for success. In the past, minorities were usually formed
as a consequence of conquest or migration; minorities tended to
have an inferior status, subordinated to the ruling, dominant
ethnic class.
While Athens provides an early example of a state formed by
alliance and association, the Romans advanced this concept when
they extended to subjected peoples the status by means of
citizenship. After the fall of Rome, citizenship continued in
Italian and other continental cities. In England, subjectship
associated with individual freedom had native roots. The American
and French Revolutions revived and created the modern definition of
citizenship. Along with Rome, however, only the United States
provides an example of a successful multiethnic state of
continental dimensions.
What happens in a region inhabited by various nationalities and
hostile ethnic groups after a long period of antagonism and
conflicts culminates in genocide and massacres? Are people able to
forget the past, to live together as good neighbors? How diverse
nationalities, Italians and Slavs, once mortal enemies, learned to
live together is one of the major themes of Ethnics in a
Borderland.
The area chosen for field research was the Italian borderland,
the northern Italian-Yugoslav frontier region, called the Julian
Region. As a preliminary step toward examining ethnic tensions,
Feliks Gross takes a fresh look at the problem of nationality in
the first part of the book. He asks: What is ethnicity? Nationality
in terms of the natives? In terms of their perceptions rather than
ours? The second part analyzes and tells the story of how, after
genocide and massacres, persecutions and conflicts, various
nationalities have learned again to live together.
Contributing Authors Include Max Nomad, Algernon Lee, Philip Taft,
And Many Others.
Contributing Authors Include Max Nomad, Algernon Lee, Philip Taft,
And Many Others.
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