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Toward a Synthesis of Conflict and Integration Theories of Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Jeffrey Martin
Affiliation:
Lawrence University
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Abstract

This study is an attempt to generate a theory of nationalism through a synthesis of the conflict and integration theories of nationalism. On the premise that conflict and integration theories have tapped different aspects of the same phenomenon, a more powerful theory of nationalism may be distilled. Such an endeavor, however, requires the inclusion of concepts and relationships heretofore neglected in the literature of nationalism, e.g., the concept of relative deprivation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1975

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References

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38 Several proponents of this theory argue that colonial relations between developed and underdeveloped countries have elevated the plane of conflict to the international system, with the developed countries adopting the role of the oppressor class and the developing countries taking the role of the oppressed class. For a more detailed discussion, see Smith (fn. 4), chap. 4. However, others—particularly Worsley and Kautsky—depict this process as taking place within the colonial society. Consequently, the process of nationalism can be treated as a conflict among groups within a society. This perspective removes the tautological definition that nationalism is anticolonialism. In addition, such a viewpoint recognizes that other types of class relationships can generate nationalism.

39 Kautsky (fn. 23), 37.

40 Ibid., 62.

41 Coser (fn. 31); Simmel (fn. 31).

42 See Zolberg (fn. 14), 460.

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45 Gellner, Ernest, Thought and Change (University of Chicago Press 1964), 163Google Scholar; Geertz (fn. 15). A note of caution: one should not necessarily equate the erosion of primordial loyalties with the erosion of traditional patterns of authority.

46 Gellner (fn. 45), 171; Smith (fn. 27), 18; also, Smith (fn. 4), chap. 6.

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52 Huntington (fn. 49), 57–59.

53 This contention is contrary to Huntington's analysis (ibid., 53–56). He argues that a combination of mobilization and inequality will lead to social frustration and ultimately to political demands only when opportunities for mobilization are not present. Although opportunities for mobilization can reduce frustration, this sort of analysis is begging the question. It has already been shown that modernization creates inequalities which include the lack of mobility for a large segment of the population. See also Geschwender, James A., “Continuities in Theories of Status Consistency and Cognitive Dissonance,” Social Forces, XLVI (December 1967), 169Google Scholar, for a discussion of mobility and frustration. The analysis offered in the present article is also in conflict with the assumption that economic growth may be dependent upon nationalism. Cf. Hoselitz, Bert F., “Nationalism, Economic Development, and Democracy,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 305 (May 1956), 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The discrepancy between the two positions can be explained by noting that Hoselitz perceives nationalism to be a sentiment of fellowship, while we maintain that a definition of nationalism must recognize the elements of conflict inherent in nationalism.

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62 Arnold S. Feldman, “Violence and Volatility: The Likelihood of Revolution,” in Eckstein (fn. 54), 121. Feldman describes this process as “fragmentation” rather than modernization.

63 Feierabend and others (fn. 56), 117–18.

64 The terms “traditional,” “transitional,” and “modern” societies correspond to the meaning given to them by M.I.T. Study Group, “The Transitional Process,” in Welch (fn. 16), 29–46.

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