Despite many predictions made over the last two hundred years that nation-states and nationalism are transient phenomena that will eventually fade away, the historical record and contemporary events show otherwise. Nationalism still remains the most popular, potent and resilient ideological discourse and the nation-state the only legitimate mode of territorial rule.
This innovative and concise book provides an in-depth analysis of the processes involved in the emergence, formation, expansion and transformation of nation-states and nationalisms as they are understood today. Sinisa Malesevic examines the historical predecessors of nation-states (from hunting and gathering bands, through city-states, to modernizing empires) and explores the historical rise of organizational and ideological powers that eventually gave birth to the modern nation-state. The book also investigates the ways in which nationalist ideologies were able to envelop the microcosm of family, kin, residential and friendship networks. Other important topics covered along the way include: the relationships between nationalism and violence; the routine character of nationalist experience; and the impacts of globalization and religious revivals on the transformation of nationalisms and nation-states.
This insightful analysis of nationalisms and nation-states through time and space will appeal to scholars and students in sociology, politics, history, anthropology, international relations and geography.
About the Author
Sinisa Malesevic is professor of sociology at University College Dublin, Ireland, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Features
An insightful analysis of two key related socio-political phenomena: nation-states and nationalism
Investigates why nationalism is the world’s most potent and resilient ideology, and why nation-states remain the only legitimate form of territorial rule
Key issues covered include the rise of nation-states, the relationship between nationalism and violence, and contemporary transformations of nationalism
Concise, academically rigorous and yet clearly and accessibly written, making it suitable for students and scholars in a range of disciplines
