Nationalism Lecture 13: Beyond nationalism? Pan-Nationalism and Fundamentalism Prof. Lars-Erik Cederman Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS) Seilergraben 49, Room G.2 lcederman@ethz.ch http://www.icr.ethz.ch/teaching/nationalism Assistant: Kimberly Sims , CIS, Room E 3, k-sims@northwestern.edu
Outline • Pan-nationalism • Historical examples • Civilizations • Implications for the “war on terrorism”
Pan-Nationalism • Pan-nationalism aggregates many related ethnic identities into one over-arching macro- identity with the aim of promoting interstate cooperation or political unification • Does not always imply unification • Main basis is a cultural political project • Builds on or opposes lower-level nationalism • Expansionist temptations
Pan-nationalism Common state? No Yes Common nation? Phase I: No Nation- formation Division or unification? Yes Phase II: Pan-Nationalist foreign-policy coordination
Historical examples • Pan-Europeanism • Pan-Slavism • Pan-Germanism • Pan-Turkism • Pan-Africanism • Pan-Arabism
Pan-Africanism (see Breuilly) • Started in British West Africa by a tiny minority • “Golden age” in 1950s • Leader Nkrumah (Ghana) Kwame Nkruhmah • 1963 Organization of African Unity • Support for unification fizzles, in spite of a strong ideological program
Pan-Arabism (see Barnett, Breuilly) • Historical origins: Christians in Lebanon, anti-Ottoman opposition • More powerful than other pan- The Arab League, founded in 1944 nationalist movements – Cultural cohesion? Language and religion? – Anti-imperialism – Anti-Zionism – Leadership: Nasser Gamal Abd al-Nasser
Pan-Arabism (continued) • United Arab Republic in 1958 but collapses in 1961 • Divisions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia • Military failure and partial peace with Israel => Sadat returns to Egyptian Anwar As-Sadat nationalism (1918-1981) • First Gulf War leads to more division • Failure of pan-Arabism opens the door for Islamism
Huntington’s civilizations • A civilization is “the highest cultural grouping of people” • Combination of objective elements and self-definition; religion crucial! • According to Huntington, there are 7 or 8 major civilizations: – Western, Confucian, Japanese, Samuel Huntington Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin-American, and possibly African
Huntington’s civilizational map
Huntington cont’d • Civilizational differences engender conflict – Differences are “real” and “basic” – Local identities threatened – West at the peak of its power – Entropy of cultural traits • Consequences: – Fault lines – Civilizational rallying – The West against the Rest – Torn countries
Critique • Definitions: – inconsistent traits: role of religion? internal differences... – self-definition? African civilization? – ignores exchanges • Role of states • Overly pessimistic about conflict • Self-fulfilling prophecy
Islamist Fundamentalism • Islamist fundamentalism seeks to recapture and apply the fundamentals of Islam in the contemporary world (Barth) • Political agenda: not in terms of states but – spiritual community: “ ummah ” – reaction to secular Arab regimes Fredrik Barth – reaction to Israel and the West – violence: “ Jihad ”
Defining terrorism • Terrorism is the “deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence or the threat of violence in the pursuit of political change” (Bruce Hoffmann, Inside Terrorism ) • Psychological phenomenon • “Political change” can be, but does not have to be, about nationalism • Asymmetric conflict: “weapon of the weak”
Three waves of terrorism in the Middle East • Religion dominant until 19th century • Wave 1: Post-colonial liberation: – Irgun and Stern Gang fight both Arabs and British – Model for post-colonial movements Menachem Begin • Wave 2: Internationalization: (1913-1992) – PLO – Model for terrorist movements • Wave 3: New religious terrorism: – Iranian Revolution in 1979 – Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda Yasser Arafat (1929-2004)
Implications for the war on terrorism • Need to attack root causes • State-led terror also major problem • Danger of clash of civilizations – risk of anti-Western mobilization – resist vilification of Islam – against fundamentalism at home and abroad – problems of nation-building
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