Anderson, Holsti, and Hobsbawm on the rise and fall of nationalism as a historical force

In Imagined Communities, Anderson argues that the territorialization of religious and language-based cultural systems in the 18th century first provided the foundation for nationalism to play roles previously occupied by religion. The languages of Latin and Chinese were previously thought to be sacred indicators of civilization and a means by which even “barbarians” could directly enter high society. By the 18th century, however, local vernacular languages like English and French began to dominate political and cultural communication. Religion itself also became territorial and relative rather than universal, Anderson argues, as shown by Marco Polo’s depictions of Mongol religious tolerance to Christian audiences as early as the 13th century.

When previous universalist religious “imagined communities” breaking down, national “imagined communities” swept in to give followers the sense of life-and-death-transcending continuity and meaning that religion previously did, Anderson argues. The new capitalist mass printing press in particular facilitated the construction of new national identities by giving readers a larger “reality” that they and their compatriots share, Anderson argues, quoting Hegel’s 18th century statement that “newspapers serve modern man as a substitute for morning prayers.” Manufactured along with these new territorial realities were new humanist temporalities, Anderson argues, in which resignation to cosmological fate was replaced by a new sense of human-driven history. This kind of history also took away the automatic legitimacy of dynastic realms, further facilitating the emergence of nationalism as a dominant political force.

Holsti argues that the formation of territorial states through warfare and notions of citizenry were the cause for the territorialization of language and religion and the manufacturing of nationalism. At first, rulers’ claims to power rested on “dynastic principles” like virtue, inheritance, heroism, or divinity. When democratic governments rooted in new notions of citizenry and social contracts were adopted, as in the French and American revolutions, a state’s “citizens” were simply the previous ruler’s “subjects”. Rulers and democratic governments alike, however, sought to further cement their legitimacy by identifying a “natural people” they ruled over, or a nation. Creating a standard language across the state was one way to construct such legitimacy, helping turn nationalism from a political creation to a grassroots identity. This momentum culminated in Wilson’s 1919 principle of national self-determination, in which nationalism was treated not just as something for states to manufacture for legitimacy, but the grounds for post-WWI state formation itself, Holsti explains.

Due to the Cold War and economic globalization following WWII, nationalism has since waned as a historical force, Hobsbawm argues. Rather than serving as positive legitimating tools for either existing states or grassroots members of aspiring states, recent manifestations of nationalism, like those in Quebec within Canada, have largely been xenophobic reactions to external challenges. Recent history, meanwhile, has been defined by the revolutionary vs. counter-revolutionary politics of the Cold War and globalized rather than national economies, stripping nationalism of the historical centrality it had between the French Revolution and WWII.

Originally written for a class assignment with the prompt "In 500 words or less, explain the evolution of nationalism as a political force from the late 18th century onwards. Consider the modern origins of nationalism, its functions and types, its post-colonial versions and the latest wave of nationalist reactions to a changing world. Make use, as needed, of the writings of Anderson, Hechter, Hobsbawm, and Holsti."