Instructor: Rogers Brubaker

office hours: Hershey 2631, Tuesday and Wednesday, 5-5:45pm or by appointment

tel.: 5-1129

email: Brubaker@soc.ucla.edu

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Nationhood, nationalism, and the nation-state are pervasive yet elusive phenomena. They assume many forms, and they are not easy to define. We know what we are talking about when we talk about Athe state,@ but it is much less clear exactly what we are talking about when we talk about Athe nation.@ Yet despite the indefiniteness of the idea of Athe nation,@ it is indisputable that this idea (and action oriented in some way to it) has been central to culture and politics for the last two centuries. And despite talk of the Acrisis of the nation-state@ and of an emerging Apost-national@ era, it is clear that, for better or worse, nationhood, nationalism, and the nation-state remain very much with us today.

Nowhere has the continued vitality and resonance of the national idea been more evident -- or more surprising -- than in contemporary Europe. Europe was the birthplace of the nation-state and modern nationalism at the end of the eighteenth century, and it was supposed to be their graveyard at the end of the twentieth. The European Union was seen as heralding the advent of a post-national age and as showing the rest of the world the Aimage of its own future.@ The future displayed recently by Europe to the world, however, looks in many respects like the past. The first half of the 1990s has seen not the anticipated eclipse but the spectacular revival and rebirth of the nation-state and the national idea in Europe. Most important, the reconfiguration of political space along national lines in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia has suggested that, far from moving beyond the nation-state, history -- European history at least -- was moving back to the nation-state.

This largely unexpected development makes it opportune to examine state, nation, and nationalism in Europe in theoretical, comparative, and historical perspective. Roughly speaking, the first half of the course will consider the emergence and historical vicissitudes of the modern state, nationhood, and nationalism, while the second half will address contemporary issues.

Two short papers and one somewhat longer paper will be assigned, due January 29th (at the end of the third week of the quarter), February 12 (the end of the fifth week), and March 23 (the Tuesday of exam week) respectively. There will be no exams. Course grades will be based on these papers (weighted 15%, 25%, and 50%, respectively) and on class participation (10%).

Two books have been ordered for purchase at the ASUCLA Bookstore:

Schedule of classes and assigned readings

January 12: Introduction : Key Concepts

January 19 : Gianfranco Poggi, The State, pp. 3-68

January 26 : Gianfranco Poggi, The State, pp. 69-85, 109-144, 173-196

                    Stephen Kobrin, ABack to the Future: Neomedievalism and the Postmodern Digital World Economy@

First paper due Friday, January 29th at 4pm in Sociology department office (Hershey Hall)

Part II : Nationalism

February 2 : Origins and development of nationalism

                    Michael Keating, Nations Against the State, pp. 1-18
                    Charles Kupchan, AIntroduction: Nationalism Resurgent@ in Nationalism and nationalities in the New Europe.
                    Rogers Brubaker, ATraditions of nationhood in France and Germany,@
                    M. Rainer Lepsius, AThe Nation and Nationalism in Germany@

Friday, February 12. Second paper due by 4pm in Sociology department office

Part III: Contemporary Issues

February 16 The challenge to the nation-state, I : regional nationalism

                    Michael Keating, Nations Against the State, pp 18-64
                    Walker Connor, AEthnonationalism in the First World@
                    Phillip M. Rawkins, AOutsiders as Insiders: The implications of Minority Nationalism in Scotland and Wales.@
                    David Gies, AA country in Spain@
                    Tom Gallagher, AThe regional dimension in Italy=s political upheaval: role of the Northern League 1984-1993@
                    Tom Garvin, AHibernian Endgame? Nationalism in a Divided Ireland@

February 23 : The challenge to the nation-state, II : immigration

                    Stephen Castles and Mark Miller, The Age of Migration, pp. 18-42, 65-97
                    Rogers Brubaker, AThe challenge to the nation-state@
                    Hans-Georg Betz, AThe new politics of resentment: radical right-wing populist parties in Western Europe@
                    Donald Horowitz, AEurope and America: A Comparative Analysis of >Ethnicity=@
                    Christian Joppke, AMulticulturalism and immigration : A Comparison of the US, Germany, and Great Britain@

March 2 : Nationalism revived: Nationhood and the national question in Eastern Europe

                    Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed, pp. 1-107
                    Aleksa Djilas, AFear they neighbor: the breakup of Yugoslavia@

March 9 : Beyond the nation-state? Perspectives on European integration

                    Michael Mann, ANation-States in Europe and other continents: diversifying, developing, not dying@
                    Mary Kaldor, ACosmopolitanism versus Nationalism: The New Divide@
                    David Hollinger, ANationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and the United States@
                    Martin Heisler, AEthnicity and Ethnic Relations in the Modern West@

March 23: final paper due by 4pm in Sociology Department office