THEORIES OF NATIONALISMA.M. SALVAFS DIP 112: Philippine Nationalism and Culturehttp://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Nationalism.html
5 Nationalist theorists● Ernest Gellner,● Miroslav Hroch,● Eric Hobsbawm,● Ernest Renan and● Benedict Anderson. These five theorists have contributed a tremendous amount to the study of the rise of nationalism. Gellner, Hroch and Hobsbawm propose general models for the rise of nations, while Renan and Anderson define nationality and examine the spirit behind it.
Ernest Gellnerthe most influential theorist in the study ofnationalism. five stages in the transition:1. Baseline: "A world exists whereethnicity is still not yet self-evidentlypresent, and where the idea of any linkbetween it and political legitimacy isalmost entirely absent."
Ernest Gellner2. Nationalist Irredentism: "A world whichhas inherited and retained most of itspolitical boundaries and structures fromthe previous stage, but within whichethnicity as a political principle—in otherwords, nationalism—is beginning tooperate…The old borders and polities areunder pressure from nationalist agitation."
Ernest Gellner3. Emergence of Nationalist States: "NationalIrredentism triumphant and self-defeating. Pluralempires collapse, and with them the entire dynastic-religious style of political legitimation, and it isreplaced by nationalism as the main effectiveprinciple. A set of smaller states emerge, purportingto fulfill the national destiny of the ethnic group withwhich they are identified. This condition is self-defeating, in so far as these new units are just asminority-haunted as the larger ones which hadpreceded them. The new units are haunted by allthe weaknesses of their precursors, plus someadditional ones of their own. "
Ernest Gellner4. Nacht and Nebel. "This is a term employed by theNazis for some of their operations in the course ofthe Second World War. Under cover of wartimesecrecy, or in the heat of conflict and passion, orduring the period of retaliatory indignation, moralstandards are suspended, and the principle ofnationalism, demanding compact homogenousethnic groups within given political-territorial units, isimplemented with a new ruthlessness. It is no longerdone by the older and benign method ofassimilation, but by mass murder or forcibletransplantation of populations."
Ernest Gellner5. Cultural Convergence: "High level ofsatiation of the nationalist requirement,plus generalized affluence, plus culturalconvergence, leads to a diminution,though not the disappearance, of thevirulence of nationalist revindication."*Gellner grounds each stage historically. It is interesting tonote that he considers the world on eve of the FrenchRevolution in 1789 the "baseline" society, although it bearsvery little resemblance to either one of the two societiesGellner describes as "baseline." Prior to the FrenchRevolution, dynastic monarchies invoked the Divine Right ofKings to apportion land and to govern the people.
Miroslav Hroch● classifies a nation as "a large social group integrated not by one but by a combination of several kinds of objective relationships (economic, political, linguistic, cultural, religious, geographical, historical) and their subjective reflection in collective consciousness."
Miroslav Hroch three keys to creating a "nation:" 1. "a memory of a common past, treated as a destiny of the group; 2. a density of linguistic or cultural ties enabling a higher degree of social communication within the group or beyond it; 3. a conception of the equality of all members of the group organized as a civil society."*three keys to creating a national identity generally occur inPhase A:
Miroslav Hroch● Phase A: Activists strive to lay the foundation for a national identity. They research the cultural, linguistic, social and sometimes historical attributes of a non- dominant group in order to raise awareness of the common traits—but they do this "without pressing specifically national demands to remedy deficits."
Miroslav Hroch● Phase B: "A new range of activists emerged, who sought to win over as many of their ethnic group as possible to the project of creating a future nation."● Phase C: The majority of the population forms a mass movement. "In this phase, a full social movement comes into being and movement branches into conservative- clerical, liberal and democratic wings, each with its own program."
Eric Hobsbawm● incorporates Hrochs three phases into his model for the development of nations and adds to them: National Consciousness: Hobsbawms first stage describes how "national consciousness" develops "unevenly among the social groupings and regions of a country…the popular masses—workers, servants, peasants—are the last to be affected by it" (Nations and Nationalism 12).
Eric HobsbawmPhase A: Hobsbawm adopts Hrochsterminology, describing Phase A as theemergence of cultural, literary and folkloricidentity for a particular social group orregion (12). Within this phase, Hobsbawmcites three criteria for making claims ofnationality:
Eric HobsbawmHobsbawm cites three criteria:1."Its historic association with a currentstate or one with a fairly lengthy andrecent past"2."The existence of a long-establishedcultural elite, possessing a written nationalliterary and administrative vernacular"3."A proven capacity for conquest"
Eric Hobsbawm Phase B/ Popular Proto-Nationalism: A body emerges, which consists of pioneers and militants of "the national idea." They begin to campaign for this idea of "nationality" (12). He gives four main criteria for the development of "popular proto-nationalism":● 1. Language● 2. Ethnicity● 3. Religion● 4. "The consciousness of belonging or having belonged to a lasting political entity—the most decisive criterion of proto-nationalism"
Eric HobsbawmPhase C: "Nationalist programmes acquiremass support, or at least some of the themass support that nationalists alwaysclaim they represent"
Eric Hobsbawm1. "The transformation of nationalism"(1870-1918): In this period, the worldwitnessed the completion of German andItalian unifications during the"Mazzinian phase" (1870-1880), as well asthe collapse of multinational empires(the Hapsburg empire, the Ottomanempire, Russia) from 1880-1918 (101-130)
Eric Hobsbawm2. "The apogee of nationalism" (1918-1950): he describes this period as thetriumph of the nineteenth century"principle of nationality" .3. Nationalism in the late twentiethcentury: the rise of "internationalism" .
Ernest Renan "a nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things constitute this soul or spiritual principle:● One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories;● the other is a present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form".
Ernest RenanSacrifices form the foundation of"nations"—"a nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feelingof the sacrifices that one has made in thepast and of those that one is prepared tomake in the future".
Ernest Renan● disregards conventional proposals that race, religion and language generate nationalism. However, he does cite geography as a significant factor.● also emphasized, most nations began as dynasties. According to Renan, dynastic territories progress to nations in one of three ways: dynastic unions, general popular consciousness and direct will of provinces
Benedict Anderson● proposed that nationalism filled the void left by the decline of religious and dynastic territorial control. He writes, "Through the general principle of verticality, dynastic marriages brought together diverse populations under new apices" .● The power of dynastic unions emerged most clearly through the Hapsburg family. Monarchs invoked the Divine Right of Kings to manipulate their subjects (as opposed to their citizens), and the Hapsburg family embodies that potent combination of religion and a monarchy.
Benedict Anderson● Monarchs invoked the Divine Right of Kings to manipulate their subjects (as opposed to their citizens), and the Hapsburg family embodies that potent combination of religion and a monarchy. In 1452, the Archduke of Austria (a Hapsburg) was elected Holy Roman Emperor, marking the beginning of a dynastic superpower that would endure until the First World War. However, as the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment approached, such blind faith in the monarchy diminished, and people began to consider the concept of becoming a "nation."
Benedict Anderson● The First World War saw the demise of many dynastic realms—"by 1922, Hapsburgs, Hohenzollerns, Romanovs and Ottomans were gone…From this time on, the legitimate international norm was the nation-state, so that in the League [of Nations] even the surviving imperial powers came dressed in national costume rather than imperial uniform" (Imagined Communities).
Timeline of the Major Events in the History of Nations● 1450- Invention of the printing press (Gutenberg)● 1452- The Archduke of Austria selected as Holy Roman Emperor, marking the beginning of the Hapsburg Dynasty (1452- 1918)● 1492- The Unification of Spain● 1618-1648- The Thirty Years War● 1648- Peace of Westphalia● 1702-1713- War of Spanish Succession
Timeline of the Major Events in the History of Nations● 1713-1714- Treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt● 1776-1783- The War for American Independence● 1789- French Revolution● 1792-1815- Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars● 1815- Congress of Vienna
Timeline of the Major Events in the History of Nations● 1848- Revolutions of 1848● 1859- The Italian War● 1864- The Danish War● 1866- The Austro-Prussian War● 1870- The Franco-Prussian War● 1871- Italian and German Unification completed
Timeline of the Major Events in the History of Nations● 1914-1918- World War I● 1917- Russian Revolution● 1919- Treaty of Versailles● 1933-1945- Germanys Third Reich: Hitler comes to power● 1938- Munich crisis; Germany annexes Austria● 1939-1945- Second World War
Timeline of the Major Events in the History of Nations● 1945- United Nations established (51 members); Cold War begins● 1947- India and Pakistan independent● 1948- Burma independent, Israel established● 1949- Peoples Republic of China established; Dutch leave Indonesia● 1950s- Japan regains sovereignty; various African independence movements● 1960s- More African independence movements; Vietnam War begins