1 Nations, Nationalism and the

State

THE MEANING OF NATIONALISM

Nationalism has been one of the most powerful political forces of the
modern age. There is endless debate on its meaning and content and
over the historical specificity of the term. Nationalism is a doctrine of
self-determination; that much is agreed. Yet the definition of the
group which is entitled to self-determination and the conditions
under which these demands are formulated is contested. Further
disagreement arises over whether nationalists, to qualify as such,
must make a claim to their own state.
In assessing the various arguments, we must distinguish between
theories of nationalism, which examine nationalist behaviour and its
consequences; and on the other hand, nationalist doctrine, or what
nationalists say about themselves and about politics. There is, of
course, a connection, in that nationalist doctrine is one influence on
nationalist behaviour. This book does not intend to provide a
comprehensive theory of nationalism. It does not explore the
behavioural basis for nationalism or go into details about its origins,
though both are important issues and subject to much scholarly
controversy. Nor does the book provide an exhaustive review of
nationalist doctrine, which comes in many forms and is often full of
inconsistencies and contradictions. Rather it is about nation-building;
the confluence of nationalist doctrine and behaviour. It examines the
uses of nationalism and of the idea of the nation. It seeks to integrate
the study of nationalism with that of public policy by asking what

M. Keating, Nations against the State

© Michael Keating 1996
2 Nations against the State

nationalists want and how they can get it. Specifically, it looks at new
forms of minority nationalism emerging from the transformation of
the twentieth century state. This is not to say that nationalism itself can
be reduced to an instrumental doctrine, a cynical device to achieve
other ends. It is a great deal more than that. It is merely to explore one
aspect of nationalism which has been neglected in the past but which
has great relevance in the contemporary world.
Nationalism is widely seen as a response to modernization.
Unfortunately, there is less agreement about the relationship between
the two. Modernization is usually identified with the breakdown of
traditional social order based on ascriptive status, the dissolution of
affective communities, the erosion of traditional authority structures.
This is usually associated in turn with secularization, the advance of
instrumental reason and market exchange. Nationalism is a new form
of collective identity and capacity for action, replacing the old. There
is little agreement, however, on the nature and significance of this new
identity. For some, nationalism represents the triumph of
individualism, in that within the national framework the individual
can enjoy freedom of action. Nations themselves are constituted from
the free choice of their members, Renan's 'daily plebiscite/ For others,
in contrast, nationalism represents the subordination of the individual
to the community. For some, nationalism represents modernity itself,
breaking traditional ties and building a new social order based on
rational and impersonal organization. For others, nationalism is the
reaction to modernization, an attempt at resistance or turning back the
clock. For some, nationalism represents the assertion of universal
principles, such as self-determination and liberty. For others, it is the
rejection of the universal in favour of the particular.
The argument presented here is that nationalism is precisely a
mechanism for coping with these dilemmas. It is a way of linking the
individual to the collective; for bridging the past and future, tradition
and modernity; for reconciling the universal with the particular. This
explains its ambiguities and contradictions, reflecting these factors in
the modern condition itself. It also links the discrete domains into
which modernization divides human existence; the political, the
economic, the social and the cultural. Nationalism cannot therefore be
divided in simplistic manner into economic, political, or cultural
nationalism. It is the inter-relationship among these which gives every
nationalism its particular meaning.