Nationalism,party political discourse and Scottish independence: comparing discursive visions of Scotland's constitutional status

This article critically examines the predominant narratives which emanated from party political discourse in relation to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Utilising a methodological approach centring on political discourse analysis (Fairclough and Fairclough 2012), this paper analyses party manifestos and constitutional policy documents produced by the three largest political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament, namely, the pro‐independence Scottish National Party, and two pro‐union parties, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. The emergent discourse of each party is interrogated by drawing upon pertinent theoretical concepts from previous academic analyses of Scottish nationalism, with particular attention given to those which have deployed modernist and ethnosymbolist theoretical approaches when analysing the Scottish context. This facilitates a critical reflection on the contrasting and nuanced narratives of the Scottish nation's past and future espoused by each political party vis‐à‐vis modernist and ethnosymbolist theory, illustrating the ways in which contrasting theorisations of nationalism are empirically tangible within political discourse and are thus not simply theoretical abstractions.     

中国近代民族主义的兴起与抵制美货运动

抵制美货运动展示了与传统排外主义迥然不同的对外方式和理念 ,包括人民主权思想和全民国家观念的兴起、新式社团和报刊等现代传媒的运用、民众政治参与意识的成长和现代舆论的崛起 ,以及文明理性的对外精神 ,因而是中国近代史上最早以近代民族主义为动员方式反抗西方列强的运动之一     

Switzerland as a ‘fractured nation’

ABSTRACT. This article deals with Swiss nationalism and Swiss nation‐building. Its main thesis is that Switzerland cannot accurately be described as either a nation or a non‐nation but is something in between, and could thus best be characterised as a ‘fractured’ nation. Switzerland has experienced some powerful nationalist moments, from the creation of the Swiss state in 1848 to the last few decades. Yet this recurrent nationalism among the Swiss, considered alongside their more traditional reluctance to consider themselves a nation, make Switzerland a peculiar object: a ‘fractured’ nation. This flawed process of nation‐building in turn reveals some basic characteristics of all nations – inherent artificiality, and the tremendous efforts undertaken to hide it. Switzerland could be considered an unfinished, incomplete nation, and this is precisely why its study can be interesting for scholars of nations and nationalism.     

Turkish nationalism and the evolutionary idea (1923–1938)

This paper sheds light on the role of evolutionary ideas in the making of Turkish nationalism during the Kemalist era (1923–1938). By so doing, it aims to challenge some of the dominant historiographical viewpoints as to the nature of Turkish nationalism. One is related to the Kemalist elites' predisposition towards the so‐called “scientism” seen as one of the bases for nationalism. We intend to turn upside–down the relation between the Kemalists' use of science and Turkish nationalism. Second, we problematize the “culturalist” origins of Turkish nationalism arguing that the seemingly “culturalist” reflections of the time were, indeed, materialist formulations based on the science of the times. We discuss in this respect the Kemalist elites' use of evolutionary ideas. By synthesizing the ways in which these elites employed evolutionary ideas in the fields of history, language, geography, anthropology, biology, eugenics, and pedagogy, we aim to understand the specific nature of Turkish nationalism before 1945. This secular nationalism conceived culture as having materialist bases and differed fundamentally from the culturalist varieties of Turkish nationalism coloured by Islam in the post‐1945 era. Furthermore, the paper empirically enriches the complex and entangled story of evolutionary ideas in the early Turkish Republic.     

Democracy,nationalism and (lack of) sovereignty: the complex dynamics of democratisation in unrecognised states†

ABSTRACT. Unrecognised states are among the least likely candidates for democratisation: they tend to be driven by ethno‐nationalism, many are marked by the legacy of war and most are facing international isolation. Nevertheless, the claim to democracy has become a central part of their legitimising narrative. This article examines this apparent paradox and finds that neither ethno‐nationalism nor non‐recognition represents insurmountable barriers to democratisation. However, what we tend to find in these entities is a form of stagnated ‘ethnic democratisation’. These findings throw new light on the relationship between democracy and nationalism; they highlight the importance of (lack of) sovereignty; and they are used to evaluate Sammy Smooha's concept of ‘ethnic democracy’.     

中国民族主义与战后东北地区政治建构

国民政府在获得对内政治的合法性过程中,1936年发表的五五宪法草案具有象征性的地位,即《宪法草案》第4条规定“中华民国领土”包括辽宁、吉林、黑龙江、热河。在20世纪前半期的东亚政治空间中日本“殖民地帝国”侵占中华民国领域。但是自1945年8月之后,中华民国政治合法性却面临新的挑战。这就是在日本战败之前和苏军一起回东北地区的东北抗日联军提出的双重民族主义。一种是如何对待苏联的中国民族主义,另一种是如何把东北地区的认同意识凝聚成为新的国民国家民族主义。处于转折点的1945年不仅构成了当今东亚地区政治格局的原型,而且还迎来了自身认同意识逐渐延伸到新的国民国家民族主义的历史阶段。     

The lenses of nationhood: an optical model of identity

ABSTRACT. This paper tries to make the case for a model of political identity based on an optical metaphor, which is especially applicable to nations. Human vision can be separated into sentient object, lenses and inbuilt mental ideas. This corresponds well to identity processes in which ‘light’ from a bounded territorial referent is refracted through various lenses (ideological, material, psychological) to focus in certain ways on particular symbolic resources like genealogy, history, culture or political institutions. Distinguishing between referent, lenses and resources helps us more precisely situate many hitherto disparate problems of national identity. These include the ‘ethnic‐civic’ dilemma, the mystery of national identity before nationalism, and the relationship between local and national, and individual and collective, identities. The model also clarifies the place of universalist ideology, which currently fits poorly within the leading culturalist and materialist theories of nationalism.     

复兴党民族主义原初理论初探

复兴党民族主义原初理论是中东民族主义的重要组成部分,它在塑造叙利亚和伊拉克地区政治体系、区域经济结构、民族文化格局过程中发挥了举足轻重的作用。原初理论的基本主张是"统一"、"自由"和"社会主义"。作为一种影响深远的民族主义,原初理论对阿拉伯民族的思想、文化、价值观念及生活方式等都产生了深刻的影响。但是,原初理论本身是一个具有多重结构和功能的复合体,加之在中东特有的政治文化环境中存在许多变量,因而在复兴党政治实践中,也出现一些背离或扭曲原初理论的做法。     

部落与民族主义的竞逐——1953年法国在摩洛哥的政变与格拉维部落的兴衰

部落构成了中东社会生活的一个重要层面,是理解中东国家必不可少的视角。1953年,法国在摩洛哥发动政变,废黜了支持民族主义力量的苏丹穆罕默德五世。格拉维部落在此期间经历了兴衰起落。此次政变集中反映了摩洛哥国内部落和民族主义力量对国家政权的竞逐,是观察中东地区部落和国家间复杂逻辑关系的典型个案。摩洛哥传统势力的代表格拉维部落与国家间关系表现出复杂形态:部落利用国家力量实现崛起,部落对抗民族主义力量发动政变企图控制国家,最后部落被国家抛弃而衰落。在部落和民族主义竞逐国家政权的过程中,法国殖民者成为二者沉浮的决定性因素和制衡力量。由于部落对国家认同的脆弱性,殖民主义政权得以通过玩弄部落认同对殖民地进行分而治之。     

战前日本的极端民族主义——以“国体明征运动”为中心的考察

“国体”是战前日本的民族主义的重要保证和推动力量,因此亦可称之为“国体民族主义”。与“国体”的结合,体现了日本民族主义的独特性。本文即以日本极端民族主义的典型体现——1935年的“国体明征运动”为例,指出“国体”意识形态作为共同体的一种防御机制,其作用不在于是什么,而是在于它的绝对价值特征可以用来确保民族认同、统合民众。于是每当体制有动摇之虞时就出现国体论的高潮,在这个意义上,“国体”与民族主义的结合是结构性的。     

The historical dynamics of ethnic conflicts: confrontational nationalisms,democracy and the Basques in contemporary Spain*

ABSTRACT. All the historical moments in which the Basque debate reached political protagonism in contemporary Spain coincided with political contexts of institutional democratisation. The debate on patriotism in the Basque Country is connected with a uniform narrative regarding the Basques and their moral distance from the Spanish nation: the ‘Basque problem’. This narrative has fostered a confrontational discourse between Spanish and Basque nationalism. It has also promoted recourse to specific stereotypical images of the Basques, which bind ethnicity to collective identity. Such representations reveal that the invention of the Basque country as a uniform ethnic collective had much more to do with the internal contradictions of Spanish national identity – and later of Basque identity – than with the existence of a secular conflict between Basques and Spaniards. The Basque case shows that every ‘ethnic conflict’ requires adequate contextualisation in order to avoid simplifying its origins and past pathways to make it conform to present uses.     

民族主义与民族国家构建析论

民族主义是现代性的政治共同体意识与行动,民族主义塑造出了民族。民族主义强调他者意识,强调民族的政治权利,也强调民族内部的平等。民族主义推动了民族国家的创建。民族国家被证明优于之前的政权组织模式,因此民族主义又成为现代国家合法性的来源。民族国家创建之后,民族主义依然存在,还会以爱国主义、分离主义等形式表现出来。对那些只具备了民族国家外表而没有实现对民族国家的认同超越其他认同的国家而言,缔造或者深化民族主义在其未来的发展中显得尤为重要。     

After Empire: Karl Renner's Danubian model of pluralism

This article argues that Karl Renner's multinational model for the Austrian‐Hungarian Empire is an alternative model for contemporary a‐territorial, multinational and federal arrangements. Nations, in his view, should act as intermediary bodies between the relevant communities and the state. His concept of ‘subjective public law’ combines principles that most authors find mutually exclusive: individual rights, choice over one's national cultural membership, non‐territorial administration of national communities and overseeing of equal collective rights by the state. Neither Staatsnation nor Kulturnation, the model is a combination of the two under the auspices of a federal state combined with a strong theory of individual and collective rights. I provide the reader with a comprehensive intellectual biography of Karl Renner, as I argue that an understanding of the man himself, his political pragmatism and his statism are crucial to comprehending this theoretical position. Throughout his life, Renner was a German nationalist, held a strong nostalgia for the Habsburg Empire and voted in favour of the Anschluß. His concurrent careers as a scholar and as a politician account for a series of contradictions. I argue however that these can be reconciled and explained by a careful comparative reading of his scholarly work and his political statements.     

Narratives of the nation in the Olympic opening ceremonies: comparative analysis of Beijing 2008 and London 2012

This paper examines the ways in which nationalism and the narratives of the nation were constructed in the Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. The ritual of the opening ceremony represents a concentration of features, qualities and messages that combine the local and global, the culturally specific and universal, in a complex production. Using textual analysis of the telecast of the above two opening ceremonies, the study found that the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony used a grand narrative of progress, emphasising the unified identity of Chineseness, while privileging the official narrative of the nation and one collective identity. In contrast, the London 2012 opening ceremony highlighted the fragmented but diversified identity of Britishness, transpiring social inclusivity, cultural hybridity and multiculturalism. This may be related to the rise of different type of nationalism in the context of increasing globalisation. The Beijing opening ceremony represented the Sinocentric Chinese new nationalism, whereas the London 2012 counterpart, up to a point, highlighted civic‐based multicultural nationalism.     

In pursuit of independence: the political economy of Catalonia's secessionist movement

This article examines the fiscal dimensions of recent support for Catalan secession. Since the region is a cultural community distinct from the rest of Spain, much research has spotlighted national identity features in the calculus of Catalan political aspirations. This study supplements this work by contextualising support for Catalan independence in terms of the state's fiscal arrangements with the use of public opinion survey data. Even after controlling for self‐reported cultural identity and other relevant factors, it argues that support for independence is a function of grievances rooted in the desire for Catalonia to assume responsibility for taxation and spending policy. Meanwhile, it validates some observations about Catalonia's separatist movement, while bringing others into question, and offers support for the theoretical framework linking political economy to secessionism. The results suggest that Spain might be able to stave off Catalonia's separatist bid through some form of political and taxation policy reconfiguration, with the caveats that cultural identity factors and the existence of other separatist movements across the country complicate this strategy.     

Cultural nationalism and everyday resistance in an illiberal nationalising state: ethnic minority nationalism in Russia

Ethnic minority nationalism has always been one of the most important subfields of nationalism studies, yet it lacks the consideration in illiberal settings. Limitations of civil liberties and restrictive legislation have undoubtedly affected the existence and the ways to express minority nationalism when it is considered a threat to authoritarian government, which is the case of the contemporary Russian Federation. The paper provides a methodological framework that helps to investigate ethnic minority nationalism when its direct articulation is restricted. It argues that the combination of a cultural nationalism approach and complexity theory can be a fruitful way to explore minority nationalism in an illiberal nationalising state using the case of Russian ethnic minorities. It also argues that the complex context of authoritarianism and market economy creates tipping points towards the growing importance of ethnic minority identification as a basis for social solidarity.