anthony d. smith

269 Pages·2016·13.63 MB·English

Why has nationalism become one of the
most powerful and widespread political
forces of our century? And why has the
national ideal triumphed over its rivals? In
this book, Dr. Anthony Smith explores its
fundamental and enduring appeal in the
modern world, by systematically comparing
nationalism with other ideologies like
millennialism, fascism, racism and
communism. Nationalism, he argues,
flourishes today because of the pressures
and effects of modern conditions on ancient
ethnic ties and sentiments. Far from
dissipating these mass sentiments, as one
might have expected, modern bureaucracy,
science and internationalism have only
inflamed them, causing many to protest
against their impersonal rationalism.
At the same time, nationalism is revealed as
an infinitely flexible and adaptable political
movement. Unlike communism, racism or
fascism, it is not tied to specific dogmas,
classes, periods or countries. Nationalism
can accommodate itself to the most diverse
A
social backgrounds and contrasting
N environments, and appear as their natural
outgrowth. Everywhere its propagators
T among the intelligentsia have used it to
H secure the often passionate, but always
enduring, support of different classes
O
among their compatriots. So varied in its
N forms, so easy to identify with the tasks of
modernisation, and so indispensable as an
Y instrument for mobilising all kinds of people,
nationalism can frequently absorb rival
D movements like communism or racism,
without losing its basic vision or profoundly
.
practical momentum.
S
Hence it is unlikely to wither away. Even in
M
the heavily industrialised states of the West
I with their well-educated citizenry, ethnic
T nationalism has recently experienced a
H resurgence. Having overcome the
challenges of communism and fascism in our
century to a very considerable extent,
nationalism today is built into the fabric of
the international order. Both in the West and
in the developing countries, the national
ideal is likely to command men’s loyalties for
the foreseeable future.
ANTHONY D. SMITH
Jacket Design: Pentegraphic Design Associates
Why has nationalism become one of the
most powerful and widespread political
forces of our century? And why has the
national ideal triumphed over its rivals? In
this book, Dr. Anthony Smith explores its
fundamental and enduring appeal in the
modern world, by systematically comparing
nationalism with other ideologies like
millennialism, fascism, racism and
communism. Nationalism, he argues,
flourishes today because of the pressures
and effects of modern conditions on ancient
ethnic ties and sentiments. Far from
dissipating these mass sentiments, as one
might have expected, modern bureaucracy,
science and internationalism have only
inflamed them, causing many to protest
against their impersonal rationalism.
At the same time, nationalism is revealed as
an infinitely flexible and adaptable political
movement. Unlike communism, racism or
fascism, it is not tied to specific dogmas,
classes, periods or countries. Nationalism
can accommodate itself to the most diverse
A
social backgrounds and contrasting
N environments, and appear as their natural
outgrowth. Everywhere its propagators
T among the intelligentsia have used it to
H secure the often passionate, but always
enduring, support of different classes
O
among their compatriots. So varied in its
N forms, so easy to identify with the tasks of
modernisation, and so indispensable as an
Y instrument for mobilising all kinds of people,
nationalism can frequently absorb rival
D movements like communism or racism,
without losing its basic vision or profoundly
.
practical momentum.
S
Hence it is unlikely to wither away. Even in
M
the heavily industrialised states of the West
I with their well-educated citizenry, ethnic
T nationalism has recently experienced a
H resurgence. Having overcome the
challenges of communism and fascism in our
century to a very considerable extent,
nationalism today is built into the fabric of
the international order. Both in the West and
in the developing countries, the national
ideal is likely to command men’s loyalties for
the foreseeable future.
ANTHONY D. SMITH
Jacket Design: Pentegraphic Design Associates
This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991.
This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried
out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press.
This project aims to make past scholarly works published
by The Australian National University available to
a global audience under its open-access policy.
Nationalism
in the
Twentieth Century
Nationalism
in the
Tw entieth Century
Anthony D. S. Smith
Australian National University Press
CANBERRA 1979
© Anthony D. S. Smith 1979
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopy­
ing, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder
First published in 1979 in Australia by Australian National University Press
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-I'ublicafion entry
Smith, Anthony Douglas S., 1933-
Nationalism in the Twentieth Century.
Index.
Simultaneously published, Oxford, Eng.:
Martin Robertson; New York: New York University Press.
Bibliography.
ISBN o 7081 1819 4
I. Nationalism—History—20th century
I. Title
320.54^904
Phototypeset by Santype Ltd. Salisbury
Printed and bound by Richard Clay at The Chaucer Press, Bungay
Contents
Preface Page vii
CHAPTER I The Development of the National i
Ideal
Enlighteners and romantics; Radicals and tradition­
alists; I mperialism and secession; Populism and anti-col­
onialism; The unity of nationalism
CHAPTER 2 Nationalism and the Millennium 14
Millennial roots; Modernist themes; Neo-traditional­
ism, reformism and assimilation; Messianic elements
CHAPTER 3 The Fascist Challenge
Industrial tribalism; The concept of the nation; The
cult of violence; Nationalism and fascism compared;
Historical links; Volk and race; The Nazi reversal; Ir­
rationalism and the Great War; Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 Colour, Race and National Identity 86
Nationalism, racism and ethnocentrism; Racial chal­
lenges to nationalism; Colour and pan-African identity
CHAPTER 5 Communist Nationalisms 115
Modes of alienation; Mechanisms of the transition;
Communism and nationhood ; Delayed development and
power dependency; Populism and the intellectuals; At­
tractions of Marxist ‘ self-realisation ”; An uneasy symbio­
sis; The nationalisation of Marxism
CHAPTER 6 Ethnic Resurgence in the West
Minorities and ‘mass society’; The resurgence of national­
ism; Autonomists and separatists; The new technical
intelligentsia; Underdevelopment and historicity; Im­
perial demise and democratic failure; Conclusion
vi Contents
7 The Bureaucratic Cycle 166
chapter
Two senses of* nation’; Bureaucratic nationalism; Home­
lessness and anarchy; The new romanticism; The
fascist alternative; The bureaucratic cycle; The nation
as buffer
8 Internationalism 184
chapter
‘Satisfied’ nationalisms? In a world of nation-states;
Consequences of international disruptions; Supra­
nationalem; Conclusion
Notes 198
Bibliography 229
Index 245
Preface
The breakdown of tradition and religious authority in many parts
of the world has encouraged a search for new kinds of salvation
and progress. Some of these salvation routes are personal and
individual, others are social and communal. Of the communal
ideologies, some are limited and localised in their objectives, while
others make more universal and global claims.
Perhaps the most important and enduring of the more limited
modern ideologies is nationalism. Nationalism combines a pro­
gramme on behalf of a specific community with a more universal
vision of culture-groups. It therefore stands midway between purely
local movements like populism and nativism, and the great ‘world
salvation’ ideologies of racial fascism and socialism or communism.
It also differs from these more universal ideologies in basing itself
on a pre-existing mass sentiment, and in emphasising practical
construction at the expense of utopian or chiliastic visions.
My aim in this book is to chart the relationships, conceptual
and historical, between nationalism and other ideologies, notably
fascism and communism, and to explain some of the reasons why
nationalism continues to appeal to so many people in different
parts of the world today. Nationalism in the twentieth century
has survived the challenges posed by fascism, racism and com­
munism, and is now experiencing something of a resurgence. The
movement and ideology has also undergone an unusual expansion
and diversification, both in content and organisation. Today we
can find every type of nationalism, from ethnic separatism and
conservative bureaucratic nationalisms in the West to the populist
and communist nationalisms of some developing countries. Yet
the ‘nationalist’ colour of these varied movements is readily discern­
ible, and the nationalist component nearly always predominates
over others.
viii Preface
Both analytically and chronologically, the book continues my
earlier discussion of approaches and typologies of nationalism in
Theories of Nationalism. It elaborates the basic definitions of national­
ism arrived at in the earlier work, and seeks to demonstrate the
varied guises under which nationalism has appeared in our century.
It does so by contrasting nationalist ideas and activities with those
of other, related, movements, as well as by relating those ideas
and activities to their specific social and cultural contexts. The
aim throughout remains analytic and comparative, in the belief
that these tasks are prerequisites to evolving any more general
theories of the whole phenomenon of nationalism. The task of
a general theory must await further studies of the origins of national­
ism. Instead, my aim here is to chart the later developments of
the nationalist movement as a whole by examining crucial
‘moments’ in its career during our century, and in the final chapters
to offer some hypotheses about the general conditions of the persistence
of nationalism today, conditions that, I would argue, are no longer
identical with those that fostered the initial emergence of nationalism
whether in eighteenth-century Europe or in nineteenth-century
Asia, or even in early twentieth-century Africa. For, although cer­
tain elements of those initial conditions have persisted in a general
manner, their forms have changed; and other elements, indeed
new conditions, have made themselves felt, influencing the course
of nationalism and hastening its resurgence. For this reason it
becomes necessary to develop models and theories of the persistence
and revival of nationalism, both at a general and at a regional
level.
These general considerations of method have accordingly deter­
mined the structure of the book. In the first two chapters I aim
to set out the main strands in contemporary nationalist ideologies.
The first chapter recapitulates the main assumptions inherent in
all nationalist thought, and analyses how national ideals were inter­
preted and expanded by varying groups in different situations
during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The second
chapter elucidates further some of the chief motifs of nationalism
by juxtaposing its ideals to the chiliastic visions of older religious
millennialisms. Contrary to some opinions, nationalism is revealed
as an optimistic, secular and practical ideology, far removed in
spirit from the supernaturalist pessimism of millennial movements.
The next three chapters examine the main challenges to national-