Introduction

A Postnationalist Era?

Bibliographic Data

ID23199739
AuthorsKeith Breen (0000-0003-2011-3179), Shane O’neill (0000-0003-1632-4686)
Year2010
Pages1-18
Publication date2010-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueAfter the Nation? (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9780230293175_1
OpenAlexW2460455696
ISBN9780230293175
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited35

This volume explores the various ways in which the nation-state as an organizational structure and nationalism as a motivating ideology are challenged by contemporary political realities, and how these challenges can be met. Nationalism has, of course, been a dominant political ideal for a very long time now. The received and still prevalent conceptualiza­tion of this ideal is that the state and the nation should cohere within a single, sovereign territory and that the nation-state thereby constituted should express, and ensure the continued expression of, a determinate national culture or identity. There have been many defenders of this ideal. For Mill (1861), for example, nationalism conceived in this manner was a basic condition of representative government, since only nation­alism could ensure the development of the ‘fellow-feeling’ or unifying culture necessary for the functioning of such government. Many have also argued that nationalism is a requirement of modern industrial socie­ties, since the common, homogeneous culture it helped generate proved decisive in the rise of an educated workforce essential for technologi­cal advancement, economic growth, prosperity, and progress generally (Gellner, 1983).

Ideal (ethics) · Ideology · National identity · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science) · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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