The Endurance of Nationalism
Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas

A major new study of the ancient roots of nationalism and its enduring power in the modern world.

Aviel Roshwald (Author)

9780521603645, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 14 September 2006

362 pages, 8 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.593 kg

'The terms and the debates are clearly explained and well sourced … There is a penetrating analysis of the response to 9/11 … and extensive discussion on European examples, ancient and modern.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

Aviel Roshwald directly challenges prevalent scholarly orthodoxies about the exclusively modern character of nationalism. He argues that nationalism's enduring power to shape the world we live in arises directly out of its position at the heart of inescapable social and political paradoxes that are not only fundamental to the modern experience, but many of whose roots can be traced back into ancient history. Modern nationalisms, the author contends, cannot be fully understood without first examining their ancient counterparts and archetypes. Deploying a broad array of historical and contemporary case studies (ranging from ancient Jewish nationalism to the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the nationalist politics of ancient Greece to the contested memory of the Alamo, and from the Yugoslav wars to Northern Ireland's Orange Parades) the author argues that a responsible politics of nationalism depends upon a forthright acknowledgement of the deep-seated and intrinsically insoluble dilemmas that inhere in it.

Introduction
1. Nationalism in antiquity
2. The nation in history and the curved arrow of time
3. Violation and volition
4. Chosenness and mission
5. Kindred blood, mingled blood - ethnic and civic frameworks of national identity
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Political geography [RGCP], Nationalism [JPFN], Political science & theory [JPA], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], History of ideas [JFCX], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]