The nation has conquered the state’
Arendtian insights on the internal contradictions of the nation-state
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11426558 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter J Verovšek (0000-0001-8946-2014, University of Groningen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 682-699 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of International Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0260-2105 • E-ISSN: 1469-9044 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0260210523000384 |
| OpenAlex | W4386051461 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 14 |
The globalisation of political power into structures ‘above’ or ‘beyond’ the nation-state has increasingly been called into question as part of a ‘sovereigntist turn’ in contemporary politics. While such demands for local control by bounded peoples may be democratic, empirically they often also take a nationalist form. Building on Hannah Arendt’s analysis of how ‘the nation conquered the state’, I argue that the slippage from democratic to national sovereigntism is rooted in fundamental conceptual instabilities within the concept of the nation-state. Whereas the first term in this hyphenated construct favours certain individuals based on their ethnic background, the latter is a universal concept that demands the equal treatment of all. My basic thesis is that these internal contradictions help to explain the nationalist tendency in calls to return political power to the nation-state. I illustrate these points by drawing on examples from the ‘illiberal democracies’ of Central-Eastern Europe, focusing on Poland and Hungary
Democracy · Ethnic nationalism · Globalization · Nation state · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics
The Six Bookes of a Commonweale
Nations and Nationalism since 1780
The End of the Nation State
Divided by Memory
Integration after totalitarianism
The nation has conquered the state’
The 2016 Referendum, Brexit and the Left Behind
After the nation-state
The State as a Conceptual Variable
Caught between 1945 and 1989
The Brexit vote
Hungary
Language and the Sentiment of Nationality
Forget the `nation`
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |