Rethinking the End of Empire: Nationalism, State Formation, and Great Power Politics

by: Lynn M. Tesser (Author)

Publisher: Stanford University Press
Edition: 1st

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 324 pages

ISBN-10: 1503638103

ISBN-13: 9781503638105

Book Description

Why did a nation-state order emerge when nationalist activism was usually an elitist pursuit in the age of empire? Ordinary inhabitants and even most indigenous elites tended to possess religious, ethnic, or status-based identities rather than national identities. Why then did the desires of a typically small number result in wave after wave of new states? The answer has customarily centered on the actions of “nationalists” against weakening empires during a time of proliferating beliefs that “peoples” should control their own destiny. This book upends conventional wisdom by demonstrating that nationalism often existed more in the perceptions of exteal observers than of local activists and insurgents. Lynn M. Tesser adds nuance to scholarship that assumes most, if not all, pre-independence unrest was nationalist and separatist, and sheds light on why the various demands for change eventually coalesced around independence in some cases but not others.
Why did a nation-state order emerge when nationalist activism was usually an elitist pursuit in the age of empire? Ordinary inhabitants and even most indigenous elites tended to possess religious, ethnic, or status-based identities rather than national identities. Why then did the desires of a typically small number result in wave after wave of new states? The answer has customarily centered on the actions of “nationalists” against weakening empires during a time of proliferating beliefs that “peoples” should control their own destiny. This book upends conventional wisdom by demonstrating that nationalism often existed more in the perceptions of exteal observers than of local activists and insurgents. Lynn M. Tesser adds nuance to scholarship that assumes most, if not all, pre-independence unrest was nationalist and separatist, and sheds light on why the various demands for change eventually coalesced around independence in some cases but not others. Read more