Key Concepts in Comparative Politics – ‘State’, ‘Nation’ and ‘Nationalism’

1. Key Concepts in Comparative Politics – ‘State’, ‘Nation’ and ‘Nationalism’ Dr. Afxendiou Sachem North High School AP Comparative Government and Politics

2. STATE • the political unit in the international political system corresponding to a territory, a relatively permanent population, and a set of ruling institutions. • COUNTRY – the territorial component of the state • Includes all the institutions and individuals that exercise power • Often used interchangeably with the terms ‘government’, nation and regime • Government-set of institutions and people authorized by formal documents to run the state • Regime-institutions and practices that endure from government to government or administration to administration

3. NATION • A collective of people united by shared cultural features (myths, values, etc.) and the belief in the right to territorial self determination. • group of people linked by unifying traits and the desire to control a territory that is thought of as the group’s national homeland

4. What is the CENTRAL point of the definition of NATION? • belief in territorial control is central to the definition; shared cultural characteristics are held by many kinds of groups. • Nations are unified by culture but above all a sense of purpose – to control the territory that the members of the group believe to be theirs.

5. How is the term NATION misused? • Nation does not equal state or country

6. No State? No Country? Still a nation? Is that possible? • Stansfield, Gareth."The Kurds: Nation without a State" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii, Mar 05, 2005 <Not Available>. 2010-09-19 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p69400_index.html> Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished ManuscriptReview Method: Peer ReviewedAbstract: Numbering perhaps 26 million, the Kurds constitute that [sic] largest ethnic group in the world without a state to their name. Distributed (mainly) among four Middle Eastern countries (Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey), the Kurds have faced relentless, sometimes genocidal, persecution over the last eighty years. In turn, the Kurds have proved a powerfully destabilizing force in each of their host countries and, consequently, in the region as a whole. The solution to the Kurdish problem lies in the creation of an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. Far from constituting a source of instability in the region (as many argue) an independent Kurdistan would be a powerful force for stability in a volatile and highly strategic part of the world. This paper makes the case for Kurdish statehood based not on moral considerations (though there is clearly a strong moral case to be made) but on pragmatic grounds.

7. How is the term NATION loosely used? • It is used interchangeably with the terms ethnic group or ethnicity • Ethnic group – a group of people who share a heritage, common language, culture, often including religion and can discuss shared ancestry • Ethnicity – one’s ethnicity is their ethnic identity, their sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group

8. What is the definition of NATIONALISM? • the ideas and activities of nationalists in controlling their nation-state; the pursuit by members of a nation to gain territorial autonomy or sovereignty

9. How is the term NATIONALISM misused? • It is equated with patriotism • Patriotism - loyalty to an existing state

10. How is the term NATIONALISM loosely used? • By ignoring one of the two parts of its definition and focusing either only on territory or only on cultural aspects • equating it with ethnic politics (the political mobilization of people based on ethnicity)

11. What do political scientists say about NATIONALISM? • Some thinkers see nations as timeless, while others associate nations and nationalism with modernity, industrial society, and democracy • Benedict Anderson, (1983: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism) argues the second whileAnthony Smith, (2001: Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History) argues the first.

12. Benedict Anderson – ‘Imagined communities’ • Anderson sees nations and nationalism as products of the modern world • He points out that despite their relatively recent origins nations like to see themselves as having ancient origins • For Anderson nations are best thought of as ‘imagined communities’ • What is imagined is a form of social solidarity – a horizontal comradeship of citizens

13. The members of a nation will never know each other or have face-to-face contact • But each is confident that others throughout the nation share similar experiences: read the same newspapers, celebrate the same national holidays, watch the same television programmes, share a common culture etc • In this way the members of a nation imagine themselves to be members of a community

14. According to Anderson… • Nations became possible due to • Capitalism that introduced the masses into politics (unions) • Printed message – the reading public guided to ‘imagine’ itself

15. A.D. Smith – The ethnic origins of nations • the roots of nations are to be found in pre-modern ethnic communities • Nationalism succeeds by discovering the ethnic past of the nation, an important source of myths and memories

16. According to Smith an ethnic community has the following features: • Shared collective name and common fate • Shared history – this unites successive generations • Shared culture, especially language and religion (creates sense of separateness from others) • Association with specific territory • Sense of solidarity which overrides class and other divisions)

17. Nationalism Today – The Effects of Globalization • According to some accounts, globalization has led to an increase in nationalist sentiment (rather than simply eroding the influence of the nation-state) • Globalization is also associated with the phenomenon of ‘long-distance nationalism’

18. Long Distance Nationalism: • Discussed by B. Anderson in: Anderson, B. 2001: ‘Western nationalism and Eastern nationalism’ New Left Review 9, May-June “long-distance nationalism: a nationalism that no longer depends as it once did on territorial location in a home country. Some of the most vehement Sikh nationalists are Australians; Croatian nationalists, Canadians; Algerian nationalists, French; …the internet, electronic banking and cheap international travel are allowing such people to have a powerful influence on the politics of their country of origin, even if they have no intention any longer of living there. This is one of the main ironic consequences of the processes popularly called globalization’