Power and the Nation in European History [Hardcover]

This book is a ground-breaking contribution to debates surrounding the formation of nations and nationalism in European history.Few would doubt the central importance of the nation in the making and unmaking of modern political communities. The long history of 'the nation' as a concept and as a name for various sorts of 'imagined community' likewise commands such acceptance. But when did the nation first become a fundamental political factor? This book represents the first attempt to breathe new life into the scholarly debate surrounding the formation of nations and nationalism in European history by drawing on the expertise of leading medieval, early modern and modern historians.Few would doubt the central importance of the nation in the making and unmaking of modern political communities. The long history of 'the nation' as a concept and as a name for various sorts of 'imagined community' likewise commands such acceptance. But when did the nation first become a fundamental political factor? This book represents the first attempt to breathe new life into the scholarly debate surrounding the formation of nations and nationalism in European history by drawing on the expertise of leading medieval, early modern and modern historians.Few would doubt the central importance of 'the nation' in the making and unmaking of modern political communities. But when did 'the nation' first become a fundamental political factor? This book engages the expertise of modern historians in an attempt to resolve the issue. A deep rift still separates 'modernist' perspectives, which view the political nation as a phenomenon limited to modern, industrialized societies, from the views of scholars concerned with the pre-industrial world who insist, often vehemently, that nations were central to pre-modern political life also.Introduction Len Scales and Oliver Zimmer; Part I. Approaches and Debates: 1. Were there nations in antiquity? Anthony D. Smith; 2. The idea of the nation as a political cl£I