Mapping The Nation by Gopal Balakrishnan

by Gopal Balakrishnan

Few political phenomena have proved as confusing or as difficult to comprehend as nationalism. There is no established consensus on its identity, genesis or future. Are we, for example, in the process of being thrust back into a nineteenth-century world of competitive and aggressive great powers and petty nationalisms? Or, rather, are we being flung headlong into a new, globalized and supra-national millennium? Has the nation-state outlived its usefulness and exhausted its progressive and emancipatory role, or has nationalism always been implicated in an exclusivist ethnic and militaristic logic? Mapping the Nation seeks to address these and other questions about the nature and destiny of the “national question” in the present epoch. A comprehensive and definitive reader on the subject, with contributions from some of the most significant and stimulating theorists of the nation-state, it presents a wide range of divergent ideas and controversies. Leading off with powerful statements of the classic liberal and socialist positions, by Lord Acton and Otto Bauer, there then follows an historical-sociological debate between the late Ernest Gellner and the Czech historian Miroslav Hroch, the one stressing the connections between nationalism and the transition away from agrarian society, the other emphasizing its variability and real anthropological basis. John Breuilly and Anthony D. Smith, two of the leading British specialists, provide a counterpoint to each other with considerations on the respective importance of political leadership and continuing ethnic communities in the construction of nationalist movements. Gopal Balakrishnan, in a carefully honed critique of Benedict Anderson’s seminal Imagined Communities, and Partha Chatterjee, from the Subaltern Studies circle, offer crucial insights on the limitations of the Enlightenment approach to nationhood, as do Sylvia Walby and Katherine Verdery with their reflections on the entanglements of nation, gender and identity politics. Sociologist Michael Mann delivers an authoritative refutation of the chatter about the “death of the nation-state.” Finally, relating the theoretical questions directly to the politics of our time, renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm, provocative theorist Tom Nairn, and the outstanding political philosopher Jürgen Habermas discuss, with varying degrees of optimism and pessimism, the future of the national project.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theory, Academic, History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

A prolific writer and independent scholar, Gopal Balakrishnan has authored numerous books, essays, chapters, and articles covering a broad range of intellectual interests. His published books include The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt and Antagonistics: Capitalism and Power in an Age of War. His edited volumes include Mapping the Nation and Debating Empire. He is the author of numerous essays and book chapters, and his work has been translated into multiple languages. In recent years, Balakrishnan has developed a distinctive interpretation of Karl Marx’s later economic thought and is working to refine his findings into a cohesive and politically resonating form. He has also begun collaborating with the editors of SS African Mercury. This journal delivers bold theoretical analyses and critiques of the political and cultural landscape across the ideological spectrum. He will be publishing most of his future work with SS African Mercury.

Reviews

[Dimitrii Ivanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Введение в теорию наций и национализма, какой она сложилась к середине 1990-х (хотя есть пара более древних текстов). Представлены и Б. Андерсон, и М. Хрох, и Э. Геллнер, и Э. Хобсбаум; я бы ещё работу К. Вердери выделил. Хорошо переведено, всего пару ошибок заметил ("Мэри Энн" там, где должна быть Марианна, символ французской нации).

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of articles that does not explain much, but does so in many words. After reading this collection the buyer will be elated to find out that the Nation is not a chair or a christmass tree. Although, I doubt this is a book made to be bought by people, rather by institutions.