Nationalism - Brubaker Flashcards
(12 cards)
When did Brubaker write ‘In the name of the nation’?
2010
What does Renan (1882) argue?
Nation should not be defined by race or language
Nation is subjective phenomenon founded on ‘the will to live together’
What does Brubaker argue about what nations are? (in relation to Renan)
Rather than defining the nation in substantialist terms where they are entities, nations should be seen as a category
What is nationalism for Brubaker?
An idiom for using the category of nation
What does Brubaker argue the nation is?
Not ethnocultural
Nations are a political claim rather than a political fact
Not a pure analytical category
Used to mobilise loyalties and demands
In alignment with Brubaker, what does Weber see the nation as?
Nation = a concept that belongs to the sphere of values (1964)
The nation is in the first instance a category of practice, not a category of analysis
What does Brubaker argue about whether the nationalism is positive or negative?
Does not think these normative claims are useful
What are the uses of the category of nation?
- Creates sense of national unity - ‘nation-building’
i.e. ‘We have made Italy, now we have to make Italians’ - Massimo D’Azeglio Italian statesman
i.e. Carried out by postcolonial states
- Can be exclusionary in far right West
- Can be unitary + solidarity - transcends internal difference
What does Brubaker say about post-nationalism?
Empirical claim is wrong (9/11 and EU not moving beyond nation state)
Nationhood is still the universal formula for legitimate statehood
What is Brubaker’s normative critique of the nation-state?
Cosmopolitan argument that nation-states are morally arbitrary
Multicultural critique that nation-states suppress cultural differences
What is Brubaker’s defence of nationalism and patriotism?
Need for solidarity and citizenship
Flexible political languages that appeal to the nation
Motive civic engagement, checking unilateral foreign policy
Mutual responsibility and a sense of responsibility for government actions
Support for redistributive social policies
Immigrant integration with open language
What does Brubaker argue about ‘reclaiming the flag’?
Emblems of nationhood (US) have become deeply associated with aggressive unilateralism in foreign policy - us and them
Nationhood must be reclaimed
Critiques of current policies in the name of the nation required
