Inclusive Nations and Nationalism

• In Event: National Identity and its Consequences in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

If nations are imagined communities, a key question is how the boundaries of the nation are imagined. Who is included within the scope of the nation and nationalism and who is not? This paper brings together and builds on a number of existing approaches to present a creative new dataset on the level of inclusiveness of nations and nationalism. In particular our data set seeks to assess the level of inclusiveness of nations and nationalism, along three intersecting axes - first, the inclusion of whom, second, the inclusion by whom, and third, inclusion in what. Corresponding to the first axis we examine the inclusion of citizens of different ethnic groups, and of non-citizens including immigrants - legal and illegal, including refugees. On the second axis, we seek to distinguish the inclusiveness of nations on the one hand, by state actors as reflected in state institutions; and on the other by societal actors, as manifested in popular culture. Finally, and relatedly, we examine inclusion across different domains of national life - political, economic, and social. We hope to use this data set as a springboard for exploring questions about the causes and consequences of the inclusiveness of nationalism.

Authors

• Prerna Singh, Brown University

• Cyril Bennouna