An Evolutionary Model of Nationalist Transformation
Year: 2009
Type: preprint
Abstract: While the possibility of change in national identities is a widely recognized corollary of constructivist theories of nationalism, the question of just how such changes take place has received less attention. Scholars have tended to assume that either rational adaptation to new realities or purposive elite manipulation cause change. This paper argues that a third mechanism should be added to our explanatory toolkit. I suggest that nationalist transformation can come about in an unguided manner akin to evolution. In this process, the interactions among competing nationalist movements and outside pressures lead to tactical adjustments in the specific claims they articulate. While these variations on the nationalist theme start out as ploys needed to address pressing local political problems, they become institutionalized as the new ideological orthodoxy if they are politically successful in the short-term. While this evolutionary dynamic has the potential to resolve some of the ongoing debates in the study of nationalism, both rational adaptation and elite imposition remain reasonable explanations of change. As a result, the paper offers an empirical rubric for testing the relative ability of all three mechanisms to account for particular instances of change. The usefulness of this rubric is illustrated with an explanation of the change in the extent of the homeland claimed by a religious nationalist movement in Israel.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Nadav G. Shelef
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2257308826