The Myth Of Nations

Author : Patrick J. Geary
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780691090542
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of Nations written by Patrick J. Geary and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern-day Europeans by the millions proudly trace back their national identities to the Celts, Franks, Gauls, Goths, Huns, or Serbs--or some combination of the various peoples who inhabited, traversed, or pillaged their continent more than a thousand years ago. According to Patrick Geary, this is historical nonsense. The idea that national character is fixed for all time in a simpler, distant past is groundless, he argues in this unflinching reconsideration of European nationhood. Few of the peoples that many Europeans honor as sharing their sense of ''nation'' had comparably homogeneous identities; even the Huns, he points out, were firmly united only under Attila's ten-year reign. Geary dismantles the nationalist myths about how the nations of Europe were born. Through rigorous analysis set in lucid prose, he contrasts the myths with the actual history of Europe's transformation between the fourth and ninth centuries--the period of grand migrations that nationalists hold dear. The nationalist sentiments today increasingly taken for granted in Europe emerged, he argues, only in the nineteenth century. Ironically, this phenomenon was kept alive not just by responsive populations--but by complicit scholars. Ultimately, Geary concludes, the actual formation of European peoples must be seen as an extended process that began in antiquity and continues in the present. The resulting image is a challenge to those who anchor contemporary antagonisms in ancient myths--to those who claim that immigration and tolerance toward minorities despoil ''nationhood.'' As Geary shows, such ideologues--whether Le Pens who champion ''the French people born with the baptism of Clovis in 496'' or Milosevics who cite early Serbian history to claim rebellious regions--know their myths but not their history. The Myth of Nations will be intensely debated by all who understood that a history that does not change, that reduces the complexities of many centuries to a single, eternal moment, isn't history at all.

Author : Patrick J. Geary
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691114811
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of Nations written by Patrick J. Geary and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2003-02-02 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dismantling nationalist myths about how the nations of Europe were born, this text contrasts them with the actual history of Europe's transformation between the fourth and ninth centuries - the period of grand migrations that nationalists hold dear.

Author : Gregory A. Boyd
Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 031056591X
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of a Christian Nation written by Gregory A. Boyd and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2009-05-18 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church was established to serve the world with Christ-like love, not to rule the world. It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”

Author : Robert H. Wiebe
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691155526
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Who We Are written by Robert H. Wiebe and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-24 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did educated Westerners make an enemy of an inspiration that has changed the lives of billions? Why is nationalism synonymous with atavism, fanaticism, xenophobia, and bloodshed? In this book, Robert Wiebe argues that we too often conflate nationalism with what states do in its name. By indiscriminately blaming it for terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and military thuggery, we avoid reckoning with nationalism for what it is: the desire among people who believe they share a common ancestry and destiny to live under their own government on land sacred to their history. For at least a century and a half, nationalism has been an effective answer to basic questions of identity and connection in a fluid world. It quiets fears of cultural disintegration and allows people to pursue closer bonds and seek freedom. By looking at nationalism in this clearer light and by juxtaposing it with its two great companion and competitor movements--democracy and socialism--Wiebe is able to understand nationalism's deep appeal and assess its historical record. Because Europeans and their kin abroad monopolized nationalism before World War I, Wiebe begins with their story, identifying migration as a motive force and examining related developments in state building, race theory, church ambition, and linguistic innovation. After case studies of Irish, German, and Jewish nationalism, Wiebe moves to the United States. He discusses America's distinctive place in transatlantic history, emphasizing its liberal government, cultural diversity, and racism. He then traces nationalism's spread worldwide, evaluating its adaptability and limits on that adaptability. The state-dominated nationalism of Japan, Turkey, and Mexico are considered, followed by Pan-Africanism and Nigeria's anticolonial-postcolonial nationalism. Finally, Wiebe shows how nationalism became integrated into a genuinely global process by the 1970s, only to find itself competing at a disadvantage with god- and gun-driven alternatives. This book's original answers to imperative questions will meet with deep admiration and controversy. They will also change the terms on which nationalism is debated for years to come.

Author : A. Altinay
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1403979367
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of the Military-Nation written by A. Altinay and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-12-09 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Altinay examines how the myth that the military is central to Turkey's national identity was created, perpetuated, and acts to shape politics. Tracing how the ideology of militarism is maintained and its implications for ethnic and gender relations, she considers the challenges facing Turkey as it moves from being a plural to a pluralistic society.

Author : E. J. Hobsbawm
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107394465
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Nations and Nationalism since 1780 written by E. J. Hobsbawm and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-26 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nations and Nationalism since 1780 is Eric Hobsbawm's widely acclaimed and highly readable enquiry into the question of nationalism. Events in the late twentieth century in Eastern Europe and the Soviet republics have since reinforced the central importance of nationalism in the history of the political evolution and upheaval. This second edition has been updated in light of those events, with a final chapter addressing the impact of the dramatic changes that have taken place. Also included are additional maps to illustrate nationalities, languages and political divisions across Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Author : Ian Wilson
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN 13 : 1459627474
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge written by Ian Wilson and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-08-22 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent announcement that Google would digitize the holdings of several major libraries sent shock waves through the book industry and academe. Google presented this digital repository as a first step towards a long - dreamed - of universal library, but skeptics were quick to raise a number of concerns about the potential for copyright infrin...

Author : Oswaldo de Rivero B.
Publisher : Zed Books
ISBN 13 : 9781856499491
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of Development written by Oswaldo de Rivero B. and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to prevent increasing social and political disorders, the author argues that many countries with primary production and explosive urban growth will have to abandon dreams of development to adopt a policy of national survival based on the search for water, food, and energy security - and the stabilization of their populations."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : Arturo C. Sotomayor
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421412136
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper written by Arturo C. Sotomayor and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If democratic principles do not just "rub off" onto United Nations peacekeepers, what positive or negative implications can be observed? Winner of the Luciano Tomassini Latin American Relations Book Award of the Luciano Tomassini Latin American Relations The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper reevaluates how United Nations peacekeeping missions reform (or fail to reform) their participating members. It investigates how such missions affect military organizations and civil-military relations as countries transition to a more democratic system. Two-thirds of the UN’s peacekeepers come from developing nations, many of which are transitioning to democracy as well. The assumption is that these “blue helmet” peacekeepers learn not only to appreciate democratic principles through their mission work but also to develop an international outlook and new ideas about conflict prevention. Arturo C. Sotomayor debunks this myth, arguing that democratic practices don’t just “rub off” on UN peacekeepers. So what, if any, benefit accrues to these troops from emerging democracies? In this richly detailed study of a decade’s worth of research (2001–2010) on Argentine, Brazilian, and Uruguayan peacekeeping participation, Sotomayor draws upon international socialization theory and civil-military relations to understand how peacekeeping efforts impact participating armed forces. He asks three questions: Does peacekeeping reform military organizations? Can peacekeeping socialize soldiers to become more liberalized and civilianized? Does peacekeeping improve defense and foreign policy integration? His evaluation of the three countries’ involvement in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti reinforces his final analysis—that successful democratic transitions must include a military organization open to change and a civilian leadership that exercises its oversight responsibilities. The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper contributes to international relations theory and to substantive issues in civil-military relations and comparative politics. It provides a novel argument about how peacekeeping works and further insight into how international factors affect domestic politics as well as how international institutions affect democratizing efforts.

Author : Gérard Bouchard
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136221107
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book National Myths written by Gérard Bouchard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Myths are a major, universal sociological mechanism which is still rather poorly understood Demonstrates the relevance and the potential of myths as a research area Provides a timely shift in the usual focus of national studies, which typically centers on ethnicity, immigration, integration, citizenship, cultural diversity and nationalism Demonstrates the nature and the functioning of myths in contemporary societies, as a nexus of meanings that feed identities, memory and utopias Contributions from international authors