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What is the relation between nationalism and the ‘colonial difference’?
This essay draws on the work of Partha Chatterjee to argue that a distinction might be drawn between political and cultural nationalism. Whilst political nationalism sought to challenge the notion of ‘colonial difference’ in the outer realm, cultural nationalism sought to maintain it (albeit reformed and reshaped) in the inner realm. This contradictory process continues to have important consequences for Africa today.
Explaining African state ‘failure’: Does the state make the nation or the nation make the state?
In seeking to explain ‘tribalism’ and ‘state failure’ in Africa, academics often point towards the misalignment of the nation and the state: either the post-colonial state has failed to make the nation, or nations have descended into ‘tribalism’ in the process of carving out a state. What is common in these two presumptions, is that all African nations or states have the power to make their counterpart; by extension, the ‘failure ‘of such processes is rarely problematised beyond domestic politics and historical references to the impact of colonialism.
Achievements and Limitations of Nation-building in Africa: The case of Zimbabwe
Recent months have seen inter-ethnic conflict in Kenya, exclusivist attacks aimed at immigrant populations in South Africa and continuing controversy surrounding the future of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Cases such as these expose serious societal tensions within some contemporary African states, including those traditionally considered the continent’s ‘success stories’. In light of this, it’s pertinent to ask about the achievements and limitations of nation-building in Africa.
Ethnicity, Identity and the 2007-2008 Electoral Violence in Kenya
Violence surrounding the recent election in Kenya has gained high-profile media coverage in Europe and North America. In this context, the dynamics of nationalism and ethnicity in Africa—and popular understandings of the role of ‘identity’—represents a pertinent subject for critical analysis.
Ethno-Politics, Mobilization and Violence in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country
The conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country have attracted a great deal of research on the macro-political, economic, social and conflict management parameters but there has been little research on the evolution and changing nature of ethno politics in regards to the radical ethno nationalist parties; namely Sinn Fein and Herri Batasuna
How useful are ‘national’ and/or ‘nationalist’ frames when analysing the ‘Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People’ in the Niger Delta?
The epic struggle between the Ogoni, an African tribe with deep roots in the environment of the Niger Delta, and Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the world’s most powerful multinational oil companies, is a story which has caught the imagination of ‘Western’ publics. However, whilst there is little doubt over Shell’s devastating role in the Delta, the understanding of the Ogoni ‘nation’ as natural guardians of the Delta’s Eden-like environment deserves our critical analysis. Is this anything more than simply a story?
What account of the ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ is put forward in the speeches of George W. Bush?
Nationalism is often used in times of war; it calls people to serve a higher cause and legitimises mass human sacrifice in the name of the state. In this essay I will examine the changes in the nationalism of President George W. Bush over the period of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Framing the War in Croatia: Propaganda, Ideology and the British Press
The wars in the former Yugoslavia have come to symbolise the brutality and irrationality of ethnic conflicts. This perception has been shaped by the manner in which events in the region have been interpreted, itself influenced by the propaganda efforts of the warring parties and the ideology, or context, of the person interpreting. This study addresses the issue of representation of the war in Croatia by examining attitudes towards the conflict in the British press. This is done through an analysis of ‘frames’ – the central narratives or storylines which organise texts.
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