Nationalism Lecture 13 Beyond nationalism PanNationalism and Fundamentalism
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 macroidentity 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? Common nation? No No Yes Phase II: Pan-Nationalist foreign-policy coordination Yes
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 1950 s • Leader Nkrumah (Ghana) • 1963 Organization of African Unity • Support for unification fizzles, in spite of a strong ideological program Kwame Nkruhmah
Pan-Arabism (see Barnett, Breuilly) • Historical origins: Christians in Lebanon, anti-Ottoman opposition • More powerful than other pannationalist movements The Arab League, founded in 1944 – 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 nationalism • First Gulf War leads to more division • Failure of pan-Arabism opens the door for Islamism Anwar As-Sadat (1918 -1981)
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 reaction to Israel and the West violence: “Jihad” Fredrik Barth
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 19 th century • Wave 1: Post-colonial liberation: – Irgun and Stern Gang fight both Arabs and British – Model for post-colonial movements • Wave 2: Internationalization: Menachem Begin (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
- Slides: 16