Contesting exclusion in a multi-ethnic state: rethinking ethnic nationalism in Nigeria

On the surface, ideas of a Nigerian state with common citizenry, free from ethnicity, religious bigotry and regionalism were pursued by Nigerian nationalists. Generally, a state united in common political practices, equal opportunities and under the same law was envisaged. However, the process leading to independence was characterised by ethnic nationalism. In the decolonisation era, group interest was reified and elevated above national struggle for self-government. The post-colonial project of constructing a common citizenry with the same aspirations, one Nigerian identity with a cosmopolitan outlook instead of ethnic loyalty, therefore largely eluded the country. Over the last five decades, the deepest attachment has increasingly been that of ethnic and regional consciousness. Ethnic nationalism has increasingly won support in an atmosphere of greed and clientelism. Several complex crises are currently manifesting themselves in ethnic forms. The situation has been exacerbated by political and economic exclusion, which has awakened forces and organisations that fight for ethnic and regional aspirations. This paper deals with the issue of group identification during the colonial period, especially from 1945. It also explores the extent to which the pattern of nationalist struggle defined the crucial issues of ethnic crises in post-colonial Nigeria. Finally, it examines the dimensions of the contest for citizenship.     

Resurgent ethno-nationalism and the renewed demand for Biafra in south-east Nigeria

The renewed demand for Biafra by Igbo people is a rejection of their post-war socio-political and economic condition in Nigeria. Through the processing of primary data, the paper examines this reinvention of Igbo nationalism. It looks at its linkage with the 1999 democratic transition in Nigeria, its implications and management by the government. The paper concludes that the renewed demand for Biafra is caused by perception of inequities and injustice in the distribution of power and resources among the Igbo. Hence a deliberate effort to correct these social problems can assuage ethnic tensions and presumption of political violence in Nigeria.     

The reign of Christ over the nation: The Basque question in the Spanish Republic, 1931–1936

The debate on the Basque Statute during the Spanish Republic (1931–39) became an exceptional political myth in contemporary Basque politics. According to current political narratives of Basque identity, the traditional will to self-government of the Basque people was expressed during those years in a broad demand for autonomy and collective identity. This article outlines the social complexity of the autonomy project, more related to religion than to ethnic conflict. This approach suggests that present concerns with Basque identity narratives undermine the historical parameters operative in the past, disabling our understanding of the history of the Basques.     

Nations,national identity and prestige

Prestige is a concept or factor that receives relatively little sustained attention in the specialist academic work on nations, national identity and nationalism. It is, however, an implicit influence in much of this literature. Evidence, perspectives and insights, suggesting that prestige is a vital element in the psychological constitution of nations, emerge from a diverse range of sources.     

The rise of militant Bretonité

The Breton movement in France grew increasingly militant in the late twentieth century, in part due to the French government. After its official and unofficial repression of Bretons ended in the mid-twentieth century, France never developed a consistent policy to deal with Breton culture. At the same time, the Bretons themselves changed their political outlook. The rise of militant Bretonité resulted from a new belief among the activists that their survival depended on government intervention. This change led to a shift in Breton politics from the right to the left, and an overall change in the movement itself.     

Living up to the father: The national identity prescriptions of remembering Atatürk; his homes,his grave,his temple

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's commemoration in Turkey often reminds Western observers of a personality cult. Looking at national identity-narratives emerging from the stage-management of his homes and final resting place, this article argues that ‘Atatürk’ has become shorthand for Turkish national identity and his commemoration represents, as a result, much more than a personality cult. Moreover, I show that although the sites in question provide the state with an excellent tool for national socialisation, they also reflect shared national assumptions and cherished symbols. Commemoration entails a sense of safety and protection, but also a warning against straying from Atatürk's path and legacy that have, after all, stood the test of time.     

Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states

The emergence of Protestant nations in sixteenth-century Europe was driven by the sudden rediscovery of biblical nationalism, a political model that did not separate the religious from the political. Biblical nationalism was new because pre-Reformation Europeans encountered the Hebrew Bible through paraphrases and abridgments. Full-text Bibles revealed a programmatic nationalism backed by unmatched authority as the word of God to readers primed by Reformation theology to seek models in the Bible for the reform of their own societies. Sixteenth-century biblical nationalism was the unintended side effect of a Reformation intended to save souls.     

Colonial legacies,post-colonial (in)securities,and gender(ed) representations in South Asia's nuclear policies

Through a comparative study of India and Pakistan's national security discourses, this article explores the linkages between post-colonial India and Pakistan's nationalist/communalist identities, configurations of masculinities, and gendered representations underpinning their nuclear (in)securities. This paper contends that the colonial politics of place-making in the sub-continent has not only inscribed a process of ‘othering’ between these states but has also facilitated the rise of divergent visions of post-colonial nationalisms, which, at each of their phases and with particular configurations of masculinities, have used women's bodies to re-map India-Pakistan's borders and national (in)securities. This article particularly draws attention to a new form of gendered manipulation in South Asian politics in the late 1990s, whereby both states, embedded in colonial notions of religious/cultural masculinities, have relied on discourses of Hindu/Indian and Muslim/Pakistani women's violence and protection from the ‘other’ to pursue aggressive policies of nuclearization. It is at this conjectural moment of a Hinduicized and Islamicized nationalism (flamed by the contestations of a Hindu versus an Islamic masculinity) that one needs to provide a feminist re-interpretation of India-Pakistan's nationalist identities, gendered imaginaries, and their re-articulation of national (in)securities – that represents a religious/gendered ‘otherness’ in South Asia's nuclear policies.     

Violent civic nationalism versus civil ethnic nationalism: Contrasting Indonesia and Malay(si)a

In 1963 the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah formed the Federation of Malaysia. In the same year Indonesia gained control over West Papua. In the first case the integration was accomplished participatory and peacefully, in the second violence reigned supreme. I argue that different visions of community, nation and state, developed during the decades of decolonisation and the early years of state- and nation-building, are responsible for the different outcomes. Contrary to the expectations of the predominant theories on nationalism the ethno-cultural variant of nation-building in Malaysia proved to be much more integrative than the civic variant espoused by the Indonesian nation-builders.     

'Germany's River,but not Germany's Border'-The Rhine as a National Myth in Early 19th Century German Literature

This article demonstrates that American national identity is symbolic, subjective and ambiguous to the extent that it encapsulates senses of both similarity and difference. Citing evidence from life-history interviews with American military veterans from different ethnic groups, the article shows how some Americans can identify with being racially excluded and still share in a sense of national belonging. It is argued here that this feature is and has always been embedded in the processes of American national identification. In making this argument, this article rejects Ramsey Cook's notion that achieving a sense of similarity between universal and particular interests within a national community is hallmark of postnationalism.