Nationalism in the Western World

Abstract

The following case-studies provide a brief discussion of contemporary nationalist and ethnic politics in different parts of the world. These are the cases which have been the most prominent in recent years, and are the most obvious tests of the theoretical models discussed in this book. Of course, many other cases could be discussed, as well as parts of the world where nationalism appears to be less prominent in politics. It would be desirable to cover all the cases in the world, for a general theory of nationalism should be comprehensive as well as comparative. However, the agenda for this book is already over-filled with the cases considered here. Other cases of nationalist movements must be assumed to share most of the features of those discussed here. Where nationalism seems to be barely present at all (an unlikely scenario) the necessary conditions for nationalist politics as described here should be lacking.