Afterword: “Remembering Empire: Between Civilizational Nationalism and Post-National Pluralism”. (original) (raw)

Western Nationalism: The Cultural Core and the Decline of Multiculturalism

This essay explores the manichean myth that distinguishes civic nationalism, commonly depicted as desirable and rooted in liberal values, and ethnic nationalism, based on cultural features and thus portrayed as segregationist. I will argue that not only most civic nationalisms are founded on ethnocentric characteristics but also its value oriented scope is in nature exclusivist as well. The essay advocates for a new approach to ethnic nationalism -based on Ius sanguinis- that distinguishes it from a cultural kind, based on language or characteristics that can be incorporated for newcomers. Furthermore, since the turn of the century Western nationalism, usually directed towards a multiculturalist approach that accepts the difference is reshaping its policies towards assimilationist ones that seek to absorb newcomers.

Culture/Wars: Recoding Empire in an Age of Democracy

American Quarterly, 1998

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Reflections on Empire and Imperial Nostalgia: "Neo-Ottomanism" in Comparative Perspective

Sociology of Islam, 2021

Hakan Yavuz has painted a colorful and complex tableau representing the genesis and evolution of “Ottomania,” which is essentially a uniquely Turkish story. Yet (imperial) nostalgia is of course not an exclusively Turkish “ailment” of the 20th and 21st centuries but rather, in Svetlana Boym’s words, a universal mal du siècle. The power of a wistful affection for a bygone era stems from the temporal disconnect experienced by a nostalgist – one between a present that is deemed to be subpar and a past that is seen as a lost “golden age.” It would seem that, not unlike in post-Ottoman Turkey, various segments of population who found themselves among the ruins of the Habsburg and the Romanov (as well as, 75 years later, Soviet) realms readily turned to imperial imaginary to better cope with an inadequate post-imperial present. The similarities and dissimilarities between the Austrian, Russian, and Turkish cases are quite instructive.

Culture/Wars: Recoding Empire in an Age of Democracy (1998)

American Quarterly, 1998

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.