Introduction

In the last chapter I argued that nationalism and ethnicity are forms of social consciousness with corresponding movements which, ultimately, are concerned with the organization and exercise of power in human affairs. The relationship between nationalism, ethnicity and power is not, of course, always obvious. After all, one of the central concerns of both nationalism and ethnicity is the sense of community to which people feel that they belong. Nationalism and ethnicity are both vitally concerned with perhaps the most fundamental question bequeathed to us by the French Revolution, namely the kind of community men and women will construct for themselves, their children and those with whom they feel they have much of importance in common. Nationalism involves, in this respect, clearly demarcated physical boundaries, denoting inclusion and exclusion, and rights and obligations which are expressed in the notion of citizenship. In the case of ethnicity, the community need not be one confined to geographical national boundaries or even proximity of residence. Citizenship rights and obligations are rarely involved in the membership of the ethnic group but entry into, and exit from, such groups or collectivities are usually more tightly controlled than in the case of the national community – where community means the nations-state. Both nationalism and ethnicity may, therefore, be seen as symptoms of a continuous or prolonged crisis of community and they are parts of the more general attempt either to maintain or to reconstruct new forms of social and political associations.