Synopses & Reviews
Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empire examines the critical dilemmas of nationalist politics in the first world war. The book focuses on a selection of case-studies drawn from events in the Habsburg, Romanov and Ottoman Empires, as well as the nation-states that arose their break-up during, and in the aftermath of the First World War. It proposes that the events of the war itself catapulted nationalist movements into positions of authority well before the necessary cultural and institutional framework had had time to develop. The resulting crisis of political modernization has reemerged in the late twentieth century and has been a fundamental threat to global stability.
Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empire includes examination of:
* the role of intelligentsias
* the effect of WWI on the peoples of multi ethnic empires
- the conflicts over how to define the boundaries of - nationhood in the new post-war polities
* the role of institutional continuity and the old elites in the evolution of the new nation states.
Synopsis
Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires is a wide-ranging comparative study of the origins of today's ethnic politics in East Central Europe, the former Russian empire and the Middle East.
Centred on the First World War Era, Ethnic Nationalism highlights the roles of historical contingency and the ordeal of total war in shaping the states and institutions that supplanted the great multinational empires after 1918. It explores how the fixing of new political boundaries and the complex interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces set in motion bitter ethnic conflicts and political disputes, many of which are still with us today.
Topics discussed include:
* the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire
* the ethnic dimension of the Russian Revolution and Soviet state building
* Nationality issues in the late Ottoman empire
* the origins of Arab nationalism
* ethnic politics in zones of military occupation
* the construction of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav identities
Ethnic Nationalism is an invaluable survey of the origins of twentieth-century ethnic politics. It is essential reading for those interested in the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in modern European and Middle Eastern history.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [224]-263) and index.