Nation-building Process Research Articles

Resulzade’de Azerbaycancılık İdealini Küçük Millet Modeli Bağlamında Tartışmak

Nationalism emerged at the end of the eighteenth century as a doctrine which rendered a decisive influence on the maturation of modern order, modern politics and state-governance. Hence, nationalism can be used to explain the process of nation-building of sovereign nations. Because nationalism explains the transformation of an existing state. In contrast, Miroslav Hroch uses the term national movement instead of nationalism to explain the nation-building processes of small nations. In this study, the last phase of the nation-building process in Tsaristruled Azerbaijan is going to be discussed by using Hroch’s A, B, C model of oppressed nations. In this context, I am going to discuss Mehmet Emin Resulzade’s national ideal (mefkure) and his debate of Azerbaijanism. Resulzadeh, has provided to contain political demand for the purpose of independence within the framework of the national ideal of the national movement. For this reason, Resulzadeh’s thought and nationalism have been shaped as Azerbaijan centred. This study argues that the process of nationalism can only be explained by Horch’s A, B, C model, considering the fact that Tsarist-ruled Azerbaijan had no state or national existence before the respective national movement which took place under the Tsarist rule.

«Турецкий идеал» в философии Зии Гёкальпа

Topic: The philosophy and views on the process of nation building of Ziya Gökalp – the revolutionary ideologist of Turkish nationalism and one of the founding fathers of Kemalism, who played a key role in the articulation of Turkish national identity in the early 20th century. It is hard to overestimate his impact on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: the founder of the Turkish Republic described Gökalp as the “father of my thoughts”. Gökalp’s ideas come together in the concept of the “Turkish ideal” or “mefkure” (Turk. mefkûre). The principle of “mefkure” was subsequently adopted by the majority of nationalist thinkers. Methodology: Contextual analysis of sources on the research topic; historical comparativism; synthesis and generalization of factual material. Results of the study: Ziya Gökalp’s ideas were focused on the transition from the multinational Ottoman state to a national state and the promulgation of the Turkish Republic. They were largely derived from the philosophy of Émile Durkheim, including idealist epistemology, positivist methodology and solidarist corporatism - together known as positivist idealism. Gökalp’s ideas can be summarized as cultural Turkism, ethical Islamism and Durkheimian solidarism. Gökalp succeeded in synthesizing different philosophical approaches, while avoiding eclectic mixing of ideas. Conclusions: Gökalp’s nationalism was heavily influenced by the West, though he tried to withstand this influence. The romantic principle of the “Turkish ideal” largely reiterates the concept of Volksgeist (German: “spirit of the people”) characteristic of German nationalism. Gökalp’s works clearly illustrate one of the key internal problems of Turkish nationalism – the question of how to restore national self-respect, which had been undermined by the prolonged decline of the Ottoman state and its stature in the eyes of the West. Gökalp’s philosophy clearly links the Young Turk ideology with the Atatürk regime. But in the course of his life, Gökalp’s views underwent significant changes, as he gradually turned away from the principles of the 1908-1909 revolution (constitutional monarchy, Ottomanism, Islamic reformism etc.) and laid the theoretical foundations of Kemalism and the modern Turkish state.

Is Skrei a Historical Norwegian Figure? The Nomadic Symbiosis of Fish and Humans in the Lofoten Islands

This paper draws from short ethnographic fieldwork and collected oral histories in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway in 2019. In this paper I follow “skrei”, the Norwegian codfish (Gadus morhua). I explore what I call the “nomadic symbiosis” of islanders and skrei via their diachronic entanglements, as these appear in historical and present narratives, in changing ideas around economic development and progress, but also in the changes in the physical and political landscapes. These moments of connection, all challenge human-centric views arguing for skrei’s agency in cuisine-making, but also vis-à-vis identity-making, as skrei became recognized conjuring a newfound sense of belonging and becoming part of an imagined community within the Lofoten islands and beyond. I argue that these meaningful interactions create worlds that decenter human agency and revisit the notion of cuisine and nation-building processes as truly multispecies entanglements.

A HISTORICAL APPRAISAL OF LEADERSHIP AND PROBLEMS OF NATION BUILDING IN POST-COLONIAL NIGERIA.

Nigeria shook off the British political hegemony and became an independent sovereign state in 1960. Soon after the independence, the nation-building process started in its full swing. The leaders who took over the mantle of power from the British overlords aimed at resolving many conflicting issues and crises but from various political and economic challenges the nation is plunged into, it is evident that the country has not been fortunate to have leaders who can be exhibiting the type of leadership that could command patriotism from followers. The paper focuses on the problems inhibiting nation-building in Nigeria and the types of leaders Nigeria have had. The work further offered useful suggestions that could help in building a virile, stable and viable, and developed nation.

The Interrelationship among Institutional Capacity, Infrastructure Governance and Equity, and Nation-Building Process in Ethiopia

The Interrelationship among Institutional Capacity, Infrastructure Governance and Equity, and Nation-Building Process in Ethiopia

Emotional Imprints

Undertaking a distant reading of exclamation marks in the digitized and annotated N.F.S. Grundtvig data, this paper targets a trait of an overall romanticist, emotionalizing trend in a corpus of 19th century literature: It proposes to analyze the use of exclamation marks as a deposition of heightened attention to emotional experience and intention in printed matter and typesetting in the writings of the Danish poet, priest and politician N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), who is widely regarded as the central figure in the 19th century Danish religious development and cultural nation building process. By way of Topic Modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) this paper sketches the temporal as well as semantic contexts of the exclamation marks.

Potatoes and nation-building: the case of the Spanish omelette

ABSTRACT “Cold, hot, as a snack, as a morning tapa, with onion or without, juicy or compacted (…) the Spanish omelette – with the blessing of the paella and the Iberian ham – (…) shines as our most universal dish”. Found in every bar of Spain and consumed in every household and in every region, the Spanish omelette (tortilla española or tortilla de patatas) has contributed to Spain’s nation-building since the late nineteenth century. Despite its humble origins – which initially slowed down its general praise and acceptance – nationalist elites and nation-state agents used the omelette to promote the “Spanishness” of the Spanish cuisine and to project an image of a highly diverse but united country. Yet, the role of the tortilla in the nation-building process has been largely dismissed by scholars. This article explores how nationalist ideologues have used the tortilla to foster and promote a specific conception of the “Spanish nation” and to overcome a series of obstacles that have hindered its nation-building process since the late nineteenth century. The exploration of the omelette’s uses advances visions of Spain’s nation-building process and its recent history.

From barbarism to decadence without the intervening civilization: or, living in the aftermath of anticipated futures

ABSTRACT The styles, moods, performances, and practices of decadence have been simultaneous with modernization, not least in the process of nation-building. This article considers the dialectics of decadence and modernization with particular attention to the roles and responses of women in the twentieth to twenty-first centuries. World-historically, this was the emergence of self-governing dominions of Anglophone cultures, increasing US influence, and decolonization. Eighty-five states gained independence since 1922, with the African nation-states after 1956. While nationalist projects often deferred the Woman Question, liberal projects of New Womanism initiated debate between feminist individualism and more collectivist practices and ideologies. Movements like social Darwinism and eugenics impacted on women, and in terms of deformed relations of part to whole (a classic definition of decadence), modernization included the great unification movements of the “Pans” – Pan-Hellenism, -Islamism, -Asianism, -Africanism, and Zionism – but also the partitions of India/Pakistan, Palestine/Israel, the PRC/Taiwan, Ireland, Korea, Vietnam, and Cyprus, which often impacted women unequally. Under processes of globalization and nation-building, modernization and expressions of decadence have been in dialectical relations, though the meanings and targets shift as hegemons rise and fall.

La Joven Moderna in Interwar Argentina: Gender, Nation, and Popular Culture

La Joven Moderna in Interwar Argentina: Gender, Nation, and Popular Culture

Nation building and social change in the United Arab Emirates through the invention of Emirati cuisine

This article aims to analyse how the invention of a national cuisine in the United Arab Emirates takes part in the journey of building the nation, both as a metaphor and as performance of larger political and ideological processes. It analyses the discourses of chefs and professional cooks that are or have been tagged as Emirati food experts. In the Emirati nation building process, the construction of identity is not ‘defined by the other’ against which the image of a common ‘us’ should be reflected. This is also mirrored in the national cuisine in the making, which is developing mostly endogamously. Emirati food both participates in and tells the story of nation building in the UAE, through three overlapping stages of development: traditional, modern and fusion food, which correspond to different moments of the perceived nation development and its fit within Western definitions of both national-states and modernity. Emirati food also helps to create identity borders, by defining who is allowed to taste the authentic flavours, through practices of commensality, and who is able to replicate them in restaurants. This article highlights the connections between nation building, social transformation and food, and explores the ways in which constructions of Emirati cuisine reflect discourses and practices of national belonging.

The Emergence of New States in Eastern Europe in 1918—Lessons for All of Europe

Abstract The year of 1918 was a crucial point in the history of Europe. Its importance does not only stem from the end of World War I, but also from the establishment of new states. Eastern Europe was particularly an arena where many new states emerged after the dissolution of tsarist Russia. The abovementioned process was correlated with the outcome of World War I (the defeat of the Central Powers on the Western Front and their victory on the Eastern Front against the tsarist Russia resulting in imposing their protectorate over Eastern Europe) but simultaneously it was influenced by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution originating from a structural crisis of Russia. The legacy of nation-building processes, taking place in the period of 1917–1921 in the European part of the tsarist Russia— even when some of the states did not manage to survive— occupies a key role in the historical memories of those countries. The importance of this legacy originates from the fact that these states often constituted the most progressive nation-building efforts in the world. The wider context of these developments and the important interlinkages existing between them are very often unfamiliar to many Europeans today. Despite that, the state-building attempts, undertaken in Eastern Europe between 1917 and 1921, had a huge impact on the trajectory of European history. Contextualising this particular academic enquiry with the events of 1918 and benefiting from methodological advantages of process tracing, our project represents an attempt to restore (or, if necessary, build from scratch) a communicational system for sending a historical message to a wider Europe. A century after, while celebrating the Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish truly big anniversaries in 2017–2018, Europeans have already forgotten how interconnected and interlinked the 1918-bound events had been and by how much those events had affected the entire European continent as well as the international system.

Education and Its Influence on the Nation-Building Process: A Reflection on Ambedkar’s Views in Colonial India

The perspective of looking at certain stalwarts of the Indian Freedom Struggle revolves around their acts which shaped times they lived in. These acts were widely considered as reactions to the prevailing discrepancies in the country’s social, political, economic and religious life. Consequently, the philosophical basis behind such action could not be elaborately and extensively articulated or analysed and thus, what ensued was a crude description of personalities. So seemed to be the case of Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891–1956) who was recognized as a social reformer and political leader with a vision of social, political and economic inclusion of the Depressed Classes (Dalits) in mainstream society. But his ability to question the structures of society and religion which had come from consciousness developed out of education, remained neglected in academia for a long time. After significant recent work became available regarding views on education, he was accepted as an ‘educator’. However, the influence of his educational philosophy in the nation-building process needs to be further explored since he opposed the dominant nationalist discourse.

English

The Rwandan genocide, seen as the result of years of ethnic antagonization and segmentation, was followed by a political effort leading to the restructuration of Rwandan national identity in order to unify the society and eventually achieve national reconciliation. By implementing measures such as the removal of ethnic affiliation on national identity documents, or by reforming the national education curriculum, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RFP), governing the country since 1994 under the leadership of the President Paul Kagame, aimed at the progressive obliteration of the ethnic frame of references in the Rwandan society. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics of obliteration of the ethnic factor in the Rwandan state narrative and to study, under a multidimensional lens, the post-genocide nation-building processes.     Key words: Ethnicity, ethnic denialism, genocide, nation building, civic transition.

The Power of Ambiguity: National Symbols, Nation-Building and Political Legitimacy in Kazakhstan

This article deploys national anthem and national currency as analytical lenses to disentangle the connection between symbolic politics and nation-building, national identity formation and regime legitimation in Kazakhstan. The study emphasises the role of national symbols—in particular, the national anthem and national banknotes—as important elements of a larger discourse about the nature of Kazakh national identity. The work argues that both the Kazakh national anthem and national currency tenge do not only serve as the main attributes of statehood and economic independence; rather their significance stems from their role as crucial elements in the nation-building process.

The Changing Material Conditions of Cameroonian Migrants in South Africa: What does this say about an “Afrophobic” post-apartheid State?

Violent attacks on African migrants have produced a richer body of knowledge on African transnational migration, xenophobia/Afrophobia, and their intersections with questions of citizenship and autochthony, especially in a country that historically has always been a home for African migrants. Constellations of narratives now vilify South Africa as a demonic state whose hatred of Africans and fixation on exorcising them have short-circuited the process of nation-building. The vilification of South Africa also tells us that many researchers, scholars, and even migrants are unaware of the ways that the country has transformed the lives of its increasing African migrant population. This article reflects on the changing material conditions of Cameroonians in South Africa to understand why this “Afrophobic†state is still a key migration destination for Cameroonians. Drawing on personal exilic experiences, observations, and relevant literature, we argue that despite the victimization of Africans, including Cameroonians, this constitutional democracy has opened up political, economic and sociocultural opportunities for many Cameroonians residing permanently in the country. In forging this argument, the article interrogates the political landscape in Cameroon and examines key economic and sociocultural moments/activities in South Africa as well as accomplishments in this migrant community, to elicit how access to different opportunities in South Africa has significantly transformed the lives of Cameroonians.

AMERİKAN STRATEJİK KÜLTÜRÜ VE DIŞ POLİTİKASINI ROBERT KAGAN ÜZERİNDEN ANLAMAK: BİR İNCELEME

This paper aims to understand how the American strategic culture and perception of security have been shaped over time and what its main features are. American strategic culture has been nourished from the historical, geographical, and political realities of the country. Being a country founded by immigrants, making a great America was also part of the nation-building process. Moreover, the continent's geographical conditions have led the United States of America to be a more powerful state to intervene in political and military issues worldwide. According to Robert Kagan, the interventionist character, the role of security provider, and disfavoring the international law and organizations are the American foreign policy's main features. In this respect, this paper focuses on these three aspects and evaluate them in its limitation. Although there are many studies upon American foreign policy, this study diverges itself from the existing literature by putting Robert Kagan’s interpretations to its center.

Строительство гражданско-политической нации в современной России: состояние и перспективы

The purpose of the study is to analyse the civic-political vector of nation-building in its connection with ethnocultural approaches to understanding the Russian nation. Scientific novelty of the research lies in contrasting ideal model characteristics of the civic nation with real processes of nation-building in modern Russia and their theoretical formulation in academic and political discourses. As a result, it is proved that the discursive forms necessary for recording the civic nation existence have been created, but they have not been filled with the appropriate content yet. Therefore, the project of civic-political nation-building is interpreted by many Russian scientists as unrealised. Nevertheless, there are certain prospects for implementation of this project in Russia. In order to do so, it is necessary to do away with mindless repetition of the western experience and to build a civic nation in accordance with domestic specifics of understanding the national issue, namely, taking into account traditions of ethnocultural understanding of the nation.

Historical perspectives and contemporary challenges to education (Bildung) and citizenry in the modern nation state: Comparative perspectives on Germany and the USA

In this article, we provide a comparative analysis of public education in Germany and the US, focusing on historical and contemporary challenges to education, Bildung, and citizenry in the modern nation state. In particular, we examine relations among nation building processes and education, transnational discourses, mutual influences, and relations regarding public education over time, and identity building and citizenship within and between federal, nation state and international levels. Comparative methods are utilized to examine policy documents as well as the literature, looking for similarities and differences among key concepts and discourses. The article concludes by pointing out that a number of contemporary developments bringing public education to a crossroads today are not entirely new and that foundations of education theory are still relevant. At the same time, we suggest new cross-national dialogues regarding the challenges bringing public education to the crossroads today.

Whose Landscape Is It? Remapping Memory and History in Interwar Central Europe

AbstractAfter the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the sanctioning of new national borders in 1920, the successor states faced the controversial task of reconceptualizing the idea of national territory. Images of historically significant landscapes played a crucial role in this process. Employing the concept of mental maps, this article explores how such images shaped the connections between place, memory, and landscape in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hungarian revisionist publications demonstrate how Hungarian nationalists visualized the organic integrity of “Greater Hungary,” while also implicitly adapting historical memory to the new geopolitical situation. As a counterpoint, images of the Váh region produced in interwar Czechoslovakia reveal how an opposing political agenda gave rise to a different imagery, while drawing on shared cultural traditions from the imperial past. Finally, the case study of Dévény/Devín/Theben shows how the idea of being positioned “between East and West” lived on in overlapping but politically opposed mental maps in the interwar period. By examining the cracks and continuities in the picturesque landscape tradition after 1918, the article offers new insight into the similarities and differences of nation-building processes from the perspective of visual culture.

Studi Kebencian: Analisis Komparasi Pemikiran Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) dan K. H. Ahmad Dahlan (1868-1923)

This qualitative research explores the theme of hatred, which has become a new interdisciplinary field called hate studies and which still requires academic contributions from different disciplines. The author uses the perspective of religious studies as well as peace and conflict studies, in which the phenomenon of hatred is examined in a descriptive-comparative way from two Islamic movement figures, namely Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) in Turkey and K. H. Ahmad Dahlan (1686-1923) in Indonesia. Comparison of thoughts and movements of these two Islamic figures is significant within the framework of ‘Muhammadiyah’. Muhammadiyah is part of the nation’s strength that has been actively involved in national political movement and in the nation-building process through “Amar Ma'ruf Nahi Munkar” preaching since 1912 in Indonesia. Ahmad Dahlan's progressive thoughts were confronted with hate incidents from religious and community leaders because they were considered contradictory to the Islamic tradition and religion. This article compares the thoughts of Said Nursi and Ahmad Dahlan in how hatred was transformed into nonviolent practices. It shows a different perspective in criticising as well as complementing various nonviolent ways and peacebuilding movements today. This perspective offers contribution to the Islamic movements and the Muhammadiyah in responding to the challenges of plurality, nonviolence, and peace in Indonesia.