Nations & Nationalism

The Endurance of Nationalism:
Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas

Nations and Nationalism Debate
- the fourth in a series of public debates organised by ASEN and its Journal Nations and Nationalism in which a recent major work on the subject of nationalism is discussed by a panel of experts, including the author. [Comment by tamilnation.org: see also Material at  Civic Nationalism & Ethno Nationalism ]

Wednesday 31 October, 2007
at London School of Economics

Chaired by Professor Anthony D. Smith (LSE)

Anthony D. Smith is one of most important contemporary scholars of nationalism. He is Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal Nations and Nationalism (Cambridge University Press) and is the author of many books on the subject including his "classic" The Ethnic Origins of Nations.

Discussants: Dr. Susan-Mary Grant (University of Newcastle) and Professor John Breuilly (LSE)

Author:  Professor Aviel Roshwald (Georgetown University), author of  The Endurance of Nationalism: Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas  "Aviel Roshwald directly challenges prevalent scholarly orthodoxies about the exclusively modern character of nationalism. He argues that nationalism's enduring power to shape the world we live in arises directly out of its position at the heart of inescapable social and political paradoxes that are not only fundamental to the modern experience, but many of whose roots can be traced back into ancient history. Modern nationalisms, the author contends, cannot be fully understood without first examining their ancient counterparts and archetypes. Deploying a broad array of historical and contemporary case studies (ranging from ancient Jewish nationalism to the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the nationalist politics of ancient Greece to the contested memory of the Alamo, and from the Yugoslav wars to Northern Ireland's Orange Parades) the author argues that a responsible politics of nationalism depends upon a forthright acknowledgement of the deep-seated and intrinsically insoluble dilemmas that inhere in it..."