Rethinking the End of Empire
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The return of great power politics at a time of surging nationalism invites a fresh look at why the world order centers on the nation-state.
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 external 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.
—Stathis N. Kalyvas, University of Oxford
"This book offers a fresh and thought-provoking perspective on the history of national independence across the globe. The world stumbled into its current nation-state form, Lynn M. Tesser argues. She emphasizes contingency, the crucial role of great powers, and the lack of popular support or a clear vision for national independence among anti-imperial elites."
—Andreas Wimmer, Columbia University
"Lynn M. Tesser rewrites the history of the nation-state system of the late 20th century not as a long-term, self-propelled process, but as a recent and contingent one. She makes clear that not only were empires viable and dynamic forms of politics up until World War II, but that a variety of alternatives were in play, from federalism to world communism. Nationalism could be a powerful force, but not the only one and always in relation to other aspirations. The task for the social scientist or historian, then, is to explain the specific patterns in which nationally based states emerged amidst other political forms and how—in the period after 1945—alternatives to the nation-state form were gradually narrowed. Tesser sets herself this task, explaining both the advance of national forms and their limitations. This book will generate useful controversy and help to provoke a rethinking of 'big picture' analyses in political science, international relations, and history."
—Frederick Cooper, author of Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945–1960
