Thor's hammer: how warfare enables and disables nation formation

Hutchinson, John ORCID: 0000-0002-2088-8305 (2024) Thor's hammer: how warfare enables and disables nation formation. Nations and Nationalism. ISSN 1354-5078

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Abstract

Scholars have neglected at a theoretical level the structuring role of warfare in the rise of nations and states. I argue that war-making has been a constitutive force in the emergence and persistence of many national identities in four ways. First, wars can act as ‘turning points’ for good or ill to become national mythomoteurs. Second, they can create enduring popular we–they stereotypes against significant others. Third, they can generate a gemeinschaft of national sacrifice that anchors the nation after a return to peace. Finally, the outcomes of wars can legitimate ruling establishments or mobilise peoples against them. However, warfare can also disable nation formation. I shall focus on the impact of imperial wars on Eurasian borderland populations. While generating nationalism in these regions, such wars create shatter zones, marked by ethnic diversity and conflict that frustrate the formation of stable national communities.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14698129
Additional Information:	© 2024 Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Divisions:	LSE
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2024 09:57
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:06
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122435

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