INTRODUCTION

• National identity and willingness to die for one’s country reflect intense attachment and loyalty to one’s nation
• Strength of national identification can provoke questions about the universal vs. modern nature of nationalism
• Debate exists on whether the nation and national identity are modern phenomena or have historical roots in earlier epochs
• Study aims to examine the modernity of the nation, revealing components of nationalism to clarify the nature of national identities
• Methodology reaches into historical and sociological frameworks beyond the 18th century, often marked as nationalism’s starting point
• Frameworks propose both temporal sequences and comparative perspectives to organize historical evidence coherently
• Lack of clear frameworks has limited understanding of group identities and ideologies; assumptions of universality or recency are often flawed
• Objective is to situate national identities within a long-term perspective of group sentiments across time
• Historical and sociological analysis can reveal meanings of national identity in their social contexts, uncovering roots of intense national sentiment
• Neglecting historical meanings as subjective or uncertain risks missing insights into contemporary identities
• Large-scale collective identities—even if interpretively difficult—are vital to understanding national sentiment over epochs
• Ethnic and national sentiments are often tied to attitudes, perceptions, and feelings, making purely structural approaches inadequate or misleading
• Meanings of identities vary by time and circumstance but often persist over generations
• Study of nations requires examining structures and cultures that shape and transform these meanings across eras

‘Modernists’ and ‘primordialists’

• Awareness of value increases when we are about to gain or lose phenomena; possession often leads to taking things for granted
• In the mid-20th century, nation was assumed to be as natural as family or speech by both the public and scholars
• National divisions and nationalism were widely accepted despite criticism of their impacts; a world of nations was largely undisputed
• 20th-century changes led to questioning of the naturalness of the nation due to non-national Third World states (e.g., Nigeria, India, Indonesia)
• Smaller units like African tribes challenged the European concept of the nation, suggesting nationalism as recent or European
• Revival of national sentiments within minority groups (e.g., Bretons, Scots, Basques) raised doubts about unitary national identities
• Growth of superpowers and military blocs limited national autonomy, particularly outside the nuclear superpowers
• Multi-national corporations threaten the nation-state model by surpassing economic and technological capacities of medium-sized and small nations
• Modernist perspective argues the nation is a purely modern construct arising from capitalism, bureaucracy, and secularism
• Modernist view posits that nations and nationalism are products of 18th-century developments and are contingent, not inherent
• Nation and nationalism should be analyzed in the context of modernity, as they lack roots in human nature or pre-modern history
• Modernism sees the universality of nations as influenced by nationalist ideologies within academia, which may mislead both analysis and political thought
• Economic modernists argue that core states (Britain, France, Spain, Holland) gained power through early capitalism and administration, creating dependent peripheries like Eastern Europe and Latin America, which led to imperialism
• After 1800, Western bourgeoisies imposed imperialism on Asia and Africa, forcing peripheral elites to mobilize masses for resistance to avoid Western domination
• Within core states, ethnic and peripheral communities (e.g., Scots, Welsh, Bretons) faced exploitation due to industrialization, sparking movements to assert identity
• Political modernists see ethnic and national groups as tools for elites to rally mass support for wealth and power in a resource-scarce world
• Ethnic symbols are used to unify diverse interests, drawing on theories like Fredrik Barth’s on social group boundaries
• Benedict Anderson’s theory links nations to print-capitalism; as religion waned, printed media enabled the creation of “imagined communities” where individuals could feel part of a larger, homogenous society
• Ernest Gellner argues that nations emerged with industrial society which requires a homogenous, literate workforce achieved through mass education
• Industrialization uprooted people, causing class conflicts; if new arrivals in cities could not assimilate, two nationalisms often emerged, marked by cultural traits like religion
• Modernist consensus holds that nations and nationalism are contingent on modernity, emerging from 18th-century processes
• The nation-state concept solidified in the 19th century, after Westphalia (1648) laid groundwork, but only later did national character become widely recognized in Europe
• Challenges to modernism arise from pre-modern evidence of collective identity, like the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians, who distinguished themselves from other groups based on cultural identity
• Examples of ancient resistance movements (e.g., Ionian against Persians, Gallic against Romans) parallel modern nationalism through territorial liberation efforts
• The Tell-el-Amarna period and medieval barbarian kingdoms had complex alliances resembling the European nation-state system
• Primordialists argue that ethnic communities are innate, enduring units of history, with language, religion, race, and territory as essential organizing principles
• Sociobiological view supports ethnicity as kinship, vital for collective goals and survival
• Perennialists claim that collective cultural ties are ancient but not universal, suggesting nations and nationalism as larger, more modern extensions of historical group bonds
• Perennialists require empirical connections between ancient group ties and modern nationalism, emphasizing the need for historical analysis to evaluate variations in scope, intensity, and political importance

Ethnie, myths and symbols

• Some scholars suggest studying contemporary nations in light of their ethnic backgrounds to explore if modern nationalism has historical roots rather than a radical break from past identities
• Rejection of modernist and perennialist views leads to focusing on ethnic communities (ethnie) and their symbolism as a middle-ground perspective
• Acknowledges continuity between traditional and modern cultures, questioning rigid dichotomies like agrarian vs. industrial
• Modern transformations affected collective loyalty units but within a pre-existing framework of cultural ties
• Ethnic identity involves form (style), identity, myth, symbol, and communication codes
• Identity builds on group history and culture, helping individuals achieve self-respect and belonging through symbols and traditions
• Shared symbols (texts, shrines, dress, arts, etc.) capture community experience over generations, marking “us” vs. “them” boundaries
• John Armstrong’s work on ethnic identities in medieval Islam and Christendom shows ethnic belonging and suggests pre-modern roots of nationalism
• Distinguishing ethnic community from nation and ethnic identity from nationalism allows examination of how modern nations evolve from ethnic foundations
• Core of ethnicity lies in myths, memories, values, and symbols, forming a myth-symbol complex
• Mythomoteur (central myth) plays a crucial role in preserving ethnic identity over generations
• Ethnicity is not grounded in ecology, class, or political power but in the cultural transmission of these symbolic elements
• Ethnic identities are durable, changing slowly over time and persisting under normal conditions
• Radical disruptions (e.g., ethnocide or genocide) are rare; ethnic communities typically adapt or weaken gradually
• Cultural shifts due to myth-symbol complex changes affect ethnicity more than demographic changes
• Examples: Islamization of Egypt (radical myth-symbol shift) and post-Roman Greece (demographic overwhelm)
• Modern nationalism often seeks to revive or merge old myth-symbol complexes, highlighting the resilience of ethnic identities even in modern contexts

The durability of ethnic communities

• Examines the durability of ethnic forms and their relation to modern national identities
• Ethnic and national identities are not necessarily linked as a universal cultural phenomenon
• Historical records may exaggerate ethnicity due to language confusion and literary interests
• Even discounting dubious cases, genuine ethnic communities exist globally, challenging strict modernist perspectives
• Modern nations often require ethnic components for legitimacy and cohesion
• Acknowledges continuity between ancient ethnic ties and modern nations, balancing modernist and perennialist views
• Modern nationalist success often depends on pre-existing ethnic foundations, like shared memories and cultural markers
• Invented identities rarely succeed without a strong ethnic basis, as seen in cases like Occitanian and Bangala identities
• Nation-formation patterns vary based on existing ethnic mosaic in each region; continuity and transformation are both evident
• Modern nationalism remains unique in its ideological form, but often incorporates historical ethnic elements
• Elite influence is limited by cultural constraints rooted in ethnic identity, challenging purely instrumentalist views on nationalism