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Complete Summary of 'National Thought in Europe'
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National Thought in Europe by Joep Leerssen
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NOTES NATIONAL THOUGHTREADING NOTES:
Introduction
Nationalism - a political ideology; one of the dominant ones of the last two centuries
The rise of nationalism is usually analysed as a factor in the development of states, national
consciousness and national cohesion as part of a society’s development towards modernity
Isaiah Berlin and Hans Kohn - nationalism - more political and social orientation
Ernest Gellner - nationalism- aside e ect of modernisation with its shifting patterns of education
and economic scale enlargement, driven by intellectuals
Eric Hobsbawm - nationalism as an ideology born of the people rather than imposed by
intellectuals
Benedict Anderson - developing role of media and the growth of communication as a crucial
factor for the developing of nationalism
A.D. Smith - tracing the pre-nineteenth century ethnic origin of nations, while at the same time
arguing that these ethnic identities were largely subjective and underwent an ideological
transformation and modern instrumentalisation in the 19th century
From these debates two Amin questions have been brought:
How modern or recent is nationalism as a historical phenomenon?
The nation as a cultural and social community that people identify with and feel politically loyalty
towards only, emerge as a meaningful concept in the 19th century, along with the ideology that
armed itself after it, or does it, have a more long-standing presence in human a airs?
Nationalism - cultural phenomenon, taking shape in the constant back-and-forth between material
and political developments on the on hand, and th intellectual and poetical re ection and
articulation on the other
Three assumptions:
1. That the nation is the most natural, organic collective aggregate of humans and the most
natural and organic subdivision of humanity; and that as such, the nation’s claim to loyalty
overrides all other allegiances;
2. That the states derives its mandate and sovereignty from its incorporation of a contituent
nation so that civic loyalty to the state is a natural extension of national (cultural, linguistic,
ethnic) solidarity
3. That territorially and socio-politically, the most natural and organic division of humankind into
states runs along ‘national’ lines so that ideally there is a seamless overlap between the
outlines of the states and of its constituent nation
Kohn (1946,9) nationalism - astates of mind, in which the supreme loyalty of the individual is felt
to be due the nato-state
Kedourie - nationalism - a doctrine invented in Europe math the beginning of the 19th century;
pretends to supply a criterion for the determination of the unit of population proper to enjoy a
government exclusively its own, for the legitimate exercise of power in the state, and for the right
organisations of states; hold that humanity is naturally divided into nations, that nations are known
by certain characteristics which can be ascertained, and that the only legitimate type of
government is national - self government
ff fl ff
, Gellner - primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and the national unit should
be congruent
Anthony Smith - an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and
identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or
potential nation; three basic assertions: 1. There exists a nation which an explicit and peculiar
character; 2. The interests and values; 3. The nation must be as independent as possible
National thought - a way of seeing human society primary as consisting od discrete, didderent
nations, each with an obvious right to exist and to command loyalty, each characterise and set
apart unambiguously by its own separate identity and culture
The concept of nation divided in three poles:
1. Society
2. Culture
3. Race
The concept of nation can be used with emphasis either on the social, the cultural or the racial
aspect
If groups such as nations are constituted by cultural patterns and choices of self-identi cation,
then it follows that they are variable and changing. This is what European history shows us
Small groups of people can vehemently distinguish themselves from each other, and oppose each
other, yet at another moment they can coalesce into a shared whole - Yugoslavia
The history of European nationalise may be describes as the completion between di erent models
of national aggregation. The result of that competitions is often determined by hard, socio-
economic and political power;
The outcome is a historical contingency
Nationalism studies - the modern state, as it emerged from history, is taken as a starting point and
retrospectively it is traced how this state came about
Between the micro-level of nationalism in a single country and the global level of a total world-
theory, the case of Europe presents a challenging and workable mid-size case - multinational
whole to be analysed from a supranational point of view
From a cultural-historical point of view, Europe presents itself as a zone of tra c and exchange
Nationalism and national thought proliferate internationally, spreading and ramifying across the
European map; movements and debates in one country may spawn copycat movements and
spin-o debates elsewhere
The structure: 1. The emergence of nationalism in the years following the French Revolution
2. How these various source traditions are feud together into the ideology called nationalism in
the turbulent, tense decade of Napoleonic rule
3. The further implications across the rest of the 19th century, in particular nationalism’s more
totalling aspects, its implicit tendency to see the ideal state as monocultural one, and its slide
from the left-wing to the right-wing end go the political spectrum
4. A concluding of the 20th century aftermath and o ers some more contemporary implications of
the historical analysis
PODCAST:
Lecture 1:
What is academia?
What is knowledge? What is knowledge in humanities ?
ff ff ffi ff fi
, Scholarship in theory and practice
Information - how do you know what information to include in your research
History as discipline - how are history writing and nation-building entangled with each other ?
Studying nations - should be done in comparative context
Nationalism - why is it important? Why is nation still important ? It never went away;
Neo-nationalism - nothing is new about it; powerful ideology its like religion for some
people; even though we have the EU nationalism is a force that can take it apart; it holds together
communities that are falling apart; under certain circumstance nationalism can become a
destructive force but under other it can become a progressive political force;
Around 19th century; nationalism contributed to democratisation of society; regardless of the
social statement; race language - you belong to the nation; therefore the nation is the most
democratic entity that you can think of; nationalism - extreme; constructive - other communities
have built very strong bond with each other;
It depends very much from what perspective you look at nationalism; either destructive or
constructive; it depends on the circumstance; the way you look at it
Nationalism can be combined with imperialism, with colonialism, a form of liberation of certain
communities;
16th century and the 19th century have the same structure of the nation;
Nationalism is not ancient
Why the EU at certain point doesn't function well ?
Importance of national identity
Mass immigration - real problem; but it doesn’t mean that immigration has to be stopped; and it
doesn't a ect nationalism
Hardcore nationalist or hardcore left-wing - it doesn’t matter who you become —- an extreme
user bc of the platform and media;
Bc of the algorithms and media a revolution can be cause in days; because of the fast developing
of the news
The news everywhere in the worlds you are going to encounter with nationalist forces - loud
because of social media;
Extremism is found by social mead, but in real life is not so common
The perception of nationalism was that it a ects only Eastern Europe; nationalism can’t become
an issue in Western Europe; BUT THIS IS NOT THE CASE - 2016 - Brexit
History - important - the perception of history and how it has shaped national identities
WATCH: video on canvas
United Nations - community of nations; EU; institution of nations
The national framework; its not always rational; there is huge irrational tendency in politics; you
can’t go past about the way people feel about home, their environment, identity
What is identity- it's totally irrational, but yet is inevitable part of politics
Polarisation -extreme polarisation; extreme ides about society; very di cult to have an honest
open communication about the important issues that bring the society together; there is no
dialogue possible; these days even the very idea of reality is questioned and social media
in uences that; national and global problem; it depends on the country how are they going to
resolve this problem - authoritarian states, liberal states;
fl ff ff ffi
, There is no such thing as there same nation; nations are changing; change ism part of the
process; you need to rede ne the concept of nation in the 21st century and you cannot apply
19th century ideas;
State level elements - national railways; national education institutions; national health care
system;
Our societies these days are diverse; not the same kind of people; more global mobility; the
populations is di erent; mass immigration; the nation is legitimised by serving its people; the
government serve the people and represents the people; then you cannot take 19th century
theories because the people are broader than in the past; we are more diverse society; how and
to what degree a society is able to handle change; how you combine the national challenges and
di erence in order to make the nations and national though work and operationalise in the 21st
century; you have to know and understand history but you cannot take old solutions; the past is
not a straight-forward example; we cannot replace the past - it’s not working - NEW SOLUTIONS;
NEW DYNAMIC IDEAS - in order to do that you have to study history
What is knowledge - constantly reassessing the way that we look at the world; opinion on a
certain topic but it needs to be supported by evidence, academic sources, historical facts; theory;
scholarly context;
ANSWER: In what ways could nationalism become a positive and constructive force, instead of a
jingoistic aggressive destructive emotion?
How is it possible that the world has changes so much ? Now the world is more clearly de ned;
even now that there are les counties in Europe that doesn’t mean that the issues are less; the less
you have the better it is other ways it's just more complicated; but this is not the case; nationalism
- once the big empires don’t exist the problem will be nonexistent (not true)
It wasn't just a political decision to simplify the world bc it will have better results; nationalism -
make cultural boarders the same as political boarders - the ideology of 19th century nationalism;
everyone is the same therefore everyone should speak the same language, no minorities; but the
e ect is that there is no variety
France - the leading force in centralisation; despite the unifying tendencies there is always the
“ghost of the past chasing”; Italy; Spain
History never repeats itself- you could not eliminate the national identity;
How is it possible in certain countries regional identities became so strong (Catalonia) - and in
others it doesn't matter
There is no simple formula to understand nationalism - and only then can be understood that in
some parts of the world it can become a war; or just politics like elections
Creating borders always create new problems; the complexes of the Western societies is part of
this war happening (there is no way that history is not going to change anymore)
For years these characters (Putin, Trump) were developing; it's not inevitable that the world will
become a liberal democratic place; the war in Ukraine was not a surprised - this has been
happening for the past years; it wasn’t just so active; the fact that you don’t pay attention it
doesn’t mean that it’s not happening
National thought -
• “humankind is naturally divided into cultural communities called nations (NO, it's not; it's not
divided into church communities in the past; but it doesn’t mean that it's nature; the only truth is
ffff
ff fi fi
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