Firmer Roots of Ethnicity and Nationalism? New Historical Research and Its Implications for Political Science

Bibliographic Data

ID6322661
AuthorsK Weyland (0000-0002-6106-8661, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume19
Issue2
Pages564-570
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592721000268
OpenAlexW3165824917
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

Among social scientists, constructivism has long reigned supreme in the study of ethnicity, nationality, and nationalism. Accordingly, scholars have highlighted the role of cultural framing and political choice in the definition of ethnic categories, their fluidity, and their flexible boundaries. Conversely, they have deemphasized the historical roots of ethnicity and depicted nations as the contested products of nationalist movements and political leaders and as (merely) “imagined communities” (Anderson 1991). Although constructivism encompasses a broad gamut of theories that differ in the malleability ascribed to ethnicity (Chandra 2012, 19–22, 139–49), recent authors have emphasized its susceptibility to change by highlighting manipulation by political-electoral entrepreneurs (Wilkinson 2012) and focusing on “identity in formation” (Laitin 1998), “ethnicity without groups” (Brubaker 2004), and “imagined noncommunities” characterized by “national indifference” (Zahra 2010

Constructivism (international relations · Ethnic group · Framing (construction · Immigration · International relations · Nationalism · Nationality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Central European national history · Gender Studies · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture

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