Introduction

In his classic work, Nations and Nationalism, sociologist Ernest Gellner (1983: 6) wrote that we are so used to the idea of nations that we simply cannot imagine a world without them. Nations, nationalism and nation states have become a vital part of modern politics, and are invariably the subject of social and scholarly discussions. Just think of the election campaign of US president Donald Trump – America First – or of the slogans and names of right-wing populist parties, particularly in Western Europe, such as True Finns, the (French) National Front, Proud of the Netherlands, and Flemish Interest. In 2017, the Dutch and Turkish governments got into a spat during the campaign season about the loyalty and dual nationality of Dutch citizens of Turkish origin. In the wake of the European sovereign debt-crisis (2011-2014) and in the Brexit referendum (2016), lacking feeling of community of fate challenged solidarity within the European Union.

So what is a nation anyway, and when did nations arise? What are the different traditions of nationalism we can distinguish? Is there such a thing as a nation state, and, if so, is it under pressure these days? Historians have been debating questions like these since the nineteenth century. Since World War II, the nation, and the nationalism linked to it, have also been an important object of study for the social sciences. With the end of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the attimes genocidal nationalism during the wars of secession in the former Yugoslavia, and the emergence of new political movements in Western Europe in response to migration and Europeanisation, the discussion has continued to be relevant and has remained the focus of attention.

At the same time, the main concepts themselves – collective identity, nation, nationalism, and nation state – have been discussed since the nineteenth century. There is no unequivocal view on whether the nation is a society that can be defined objectively or is experienced above all subjectively by citizens. With the revival of populist movements, the social and scholarly debate is once again looking at whether nations are inherent and have long-term historical roots, or are, rather, naturally variable.