The Ethnic Revival

Explores the ethnic separatisms and 'neo-nationalisms' that threatened to undermine the fragile stability of the world order in the early 1980s.

Anthony D. Smith (Author)

9780521298858, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 October 1981

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

Since the Second World War, the world has witnessed a remarkable efflorescence of ethnic feeling and nationalist aspirations. Among Bretons, Basques, Scots, Welsh, Flemish, Quebecois, Catalans, Kurds, Ibo, Somali, and a host of other communities, ethnic movements demanding much greater autonomy, or even independence, have sprung up. Originally published in 1981, this book explores the ethnic separatisms and 'neo-nationalisms' that, at the time, threatened to undermine the fragile stability of the world order and to annul liberal and cosmopolitan dreams of world government and a universal scientific culture. What were the underlying causes of this ethnic revival? Why did it assume worldwide proportions? Anthony D. Smith claims that to uncover the cultural root and mental spring of the ethnic renaissance we must look to the development of a sense of history that first arose in eighteenth-century Europe.

Preface
Introduction
1. An 'ethnic revival'?
2. Uneven development
3. Language and community
4. Ethnic consciousness in pre-modern eras
5. Historicism
6. Bureaucracy and the intelligentsia
7. State integration and ethnic schism
8. Accommodation and neo-ethnicity
9. 'Neo-nationalism'
10. Towards the scientific state
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Sociology & anthropology [JH]