Zionism

Abstract

AbstractZionism is a nationalist movement of European Jews, which belongs to the explosion of ideologies for political and social change that emerged in the nineteenth century. As a movement and, arguably, an ideology, it is hotly contested both in terms of its political, cultural, and secular forms and related scholarship. More specifically, Zionists were influenced by a shared disappointment in unfulfilled promises of equality through emancipation and assimilation as against a background of intensifying modern anti‐Semitism in central Europe and Russia. Cultural, political, religious, socialist, Christian, and later, revisionist Zionism all developed nearly simultaneously and evolved in complex conversation with one another. A unifying belief across the enormously varied discussions included notions of a shared history and future collective Jewish existence. Moreover, a connection to the ancient concept of Zion (Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible) was elemental to most discussions. Alternatives to a Middle Eastern state were also proposed, and included both Argentina and Uganda as possible alternatives. Zionism quickly spread to include followers in the United States (and elsewhere) for whom a shared Jewish identity was not necessarily essential.