Nationalism in a global era: the persistence of nations

摘要

Belief in the swift withering away of the nation due to the forces of globalisation was quite widespread in the early 1990s, among academics and commentators alike. Of the leading theorists of the nation, Anthony Smith has been one of the most vocal critics of this position. In a considerable number of books, he has consistently argued that nations are based on historical ethnies and so have a continuity that has been understated by many scholars - there is thus no sound reason to assume that their dominance as political and emotional power containers will be short lived.