Strategic Uses of Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict

Abstract

The cataclysmic upheavals in the Soviet Union during and after perestroika led to an upsurge of nationalism and ethnic conflicts. Not only the communist regime, but the unitary Soviet state exited the historical scene, leaving behind a power vacuum. Politics became a free-for-all: power was up for grabs, and nationalism in various guises – both as a programme for state legitimation and for ethnic mobilisation outside of and against the state –made itself felt on numerous political arenas. This development engendered renewed interest in nationalism studies generally, influencing the interpretation of conflicts also in other parts of the world. In this book, I do not try to answer the question what nationalism “is”, instead, I accept as a fact that nationalism has become a ubiquitous feature of politics in the modern world. I examine some of the ways nationalism has been used as a political strategy, by whom and for what purposes. I argue that national identities cannot be conjured out of thin air. they have to be based on the cultural reservoirs and historical memories of groups. Nationalism is mobilisation to promote the interests of an identity group, the imagined community of ‘the nation’. For some members of the nation (however understood), immaterial goods such as the possibilities to practise one’s culture and language may be paramount, whereas others hope to reap more mundane rewards. Precisely in situations when large numbers of people are caught up in nationalist enthusiasm, some may tap into this fervour, basing their careers on it.