Introduction to the Research Handbook on Nationalism

Abstract

The purpose of the present book is to give the reader an idea of what kinds of scholarship are undertaken today on the subject of nationalism around the world. It aims to bring to the reader’s attention representative work, not necessarily the “best,” recognizing that what is considered the best in various national traditions is likely to differ substantially. The time has passed when most participants in a scholarly discussion on a certain subject would share common agreed-upon standards, and when those who did not would not be included in the discussion at all. The world of scholarship as defined by the West has expanded dramatically, with a striking increase in the relevance for it of the post-Soviet and Chinese scholarly worlds in particular, which only a few decades earlier existed in their own closed spheres. And, in no area of study is the mutual relevance of these previously separate scholarly worlds more consequential than in that of nationalism – a subject of intense interest, transcending academia everywhere around the globe. At the same time, significant changes, resulting in a widespread intellectual disarray, have occurred within Western social sciences and it is no longer clear what constitutes acceptable scholarship within the fields, apart from the fact that it is accepted (as a PhD dissertation, for publication in a journal, etc.) somewhere. This is exacerbated by the division of the Western social science into separate disciplines. Since their subject is singular, human society, and no aspect of it can be understood in isolation from others, these disciplines differ mostly in style, and what may be praiseworthy scholarship in history would not pass muster in political science, what would be perfectly acceptable in sociology would be decried in economics, and vice versa, even when all these sovereign “academic nations” address precisely the same intellectual question. Added to this, what constitutes these disciplines is defined differently in various Western nations (UK and USA, not to speak of France, Germany, Italy and others in Europe) and completely differently within the independent scholarly traditions of the former Soviet and Sinic societies, and editors are left without standards, if the goal is to showcase representative work, or can select only from the limited and not at all representative work according to the standards of their national and disciplinary traditions and, ultimately, subjective judgment. As said, we have decided to present what there is and keep our judgment to ourselves. This decision has several implications. The first of these is that the present book must be regarded as a primary source for research on nationalism – a source of data, not a summary or analysis of the accumulated knowledge (but a basis for such summary and analysis) and certainly not a reflection of a general understanding of the phenomenon. In fact, the work assembled here, which accurately represents what scholarly research on nationalism is undertaken today in various parts of the world, shows that no such general understanding exists – and it is evident that only a minority of scholars contributing to this collection even include understanding among their aims, considering a comprehensive