At the heart of South Africa's 'miracle' transition from intractable ethno-racial conflict to democracy was an improvised nation born out of war weariness, hope, idealism and calculated pragmatism on the part of the elites who negotiated the compromise settlement. In the absence of any of the conventional bonds of national consciousness, the improvised nation was fixed on the civic identity and national citizenship envisaged in the new constitution.
In the twentieth anniversary year of the country's democracy, South Africa reviews the progress of nation-building in...
At the heart of South Africa's 'miracle' transition from intractable ethno-racial conflict to democracy was an improvised nation born out of war weari...
Part of the successful 'Inventing the Nation' history series, this book provides an authoritative and compelling history of Spain in the modern period. Humlebaek places a strong emphasis on the construction of the Spanish national identity and looks at how this identity has emerged and survived amidst the tensions created by the competing, distinct regional identities that exist within the country. Language and language policy, decisive factors in the development of these tensions, are thoroughly examined as Carsten Humlebaek explores the history of Spain along with the very nature of what it...
Part of the successful 'Inventing the Nation' history series, this book provides an authoritative and compelling history of Spain in the modern period...
'What is a German's fatherland?', asked Ernst Moritz Arndt at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This has arguably been the central question of modern German history. Germans did not have a united fatherland until 1871, and, thereafter, major political events in 1918, 1933, 1945, 1968 and 1989 ensured that the answers to Arndt's question proliferated and diverged with breath-taking speed.
Germany explains the diverse ways in which national identity has been constructed over more than three centuries. It focuses on the...
'What is a German's fatherland?', asked Ernst Moritz Arndt at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This has arguably been the central qu...
Until the Second World War Poland was characteristically multi-cultural, with about one-third of its population belonging to minority communities. Today it stands out as a relatively culturally homogenous country.
Rather than providing a simple narrative account of Polish history and the nation-building process, this book highlights those historical moments that have had a lasting impact on Polish identity debates and on the self-definition of the nation in various historical-political narratives. It also offers a juxtaposition of the nation-building ideas espoused and symbolized by...
Until the Second World War Poland was characteristically multi-cultural, with about one-third of its population belonging to minority communities. ...
