The nation has conquered the state’

Arendtian insights on the internal contradictions of the nation-state

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11426558
AutoresPeter J Verovšek (0000-0001-8946-2014, University of Groningen, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen50
Número4
Páginas682-699
Fecha de publicación2024-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReview of International Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0260-2105 • E-ISSN: 1469-9044
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0260210523000384
OpenAlexW4386051461
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas14

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