The Identity of Nations

Beschreibung

What is national identity? What are the main challenges posed to national identity by the strengthening of regional identities and the growth of cultural diversity? How is right-wing nationalism connected to the desire to preserve a traditional image of national identity? Can we forge a new kind of national identity that responds to the challenges of globalization and other deep-seated changes? In this important new book, Montserrat Guibernau answers these and other compelling questions about the future of national identity. For Guibernau, the nation-states traditional project to unify its otherwise diverse population by generating a shared sense of national identity among them was always contested, and was accomplished with various degrees of success in Europe and North America. Such processes involved the cultural and linguistic homogenization of an otherwise diverse citizenry and were pursued by different means according to the specific contexts within which they were applied. At present, the impact of strong structural socio-political and economic transformations has resulted in greater challenges being posed to the idea that all citizens of a state should share a homogeneous national identity. Diversity is increasing, and plans for further European integration contain the potential to generate significant tensions, casting greater doubt on the classical concept of national identity. As a result, we are faced with a set of new dilemmas concerning the way in which national identity is constructed and defined. The book offers a theoretical as well as a comparative approach, with case studies involving Austria, Britain, Canada and Spain, as well as the European Union and the United States of America. The Identity of Nations will be essential reading for advanced students and professional scholars in sociology, politics and international relations.

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Montserrat Guibernau

Themen in »The Identity of Nations«

Political Issues & Behavior Political Science Politik Politikwissenschaft Politische Fragen u. politisches Verhalten Social Identity Sociology Soziale Identität Soziologie

Stimmen zu »The Identity of Nations«

"Guibernau paints a broad panorama of national identities and theirpolitical mobilization in North America and Western Europe andargues for a "cosmopolitan nationalism" that reconcilesmoral universalism with a sense of national belonging. TheIdentity of Nations is an important and thoughtful contributionto current debates on multiculturalism, the rise of the radicalright and the relation between national, European and globalidentities." Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute,Florence "Montserrat Guibernau brings together a vast experience of thestudy of nationalism and national identity. Since her original workon Nations without States, based upon her experience of her nativeCatalonia, she has gone on to study these topics in a variety ofsituations, especially in the United Kingdom and Canada. This bookbrings together her perceptive conclusions." John Rex, University of Warwick "The Identity of Nations is a trenchant analysis of thenature of national identity and contemporary challenges to itscontinued primacy by a scholar with impeccable credentials." Walker Connor, Middlebury College
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