Outline of the May 18th Lecture / V. Kechriotis

Nations and Nationalism

Two kinds of nationalism
- Hans Kohn, The idea of nationalism, 1944
- western/eastern, civic/ethnic, territorial/racial, citizen/ people,
present/past, politics/culture, French/ German, ius solis/, ius sanguinis.
- French revolution, nation in arms.
- German resistance against Napoleonic invasion.

Reflecting on nationalism
- 1848 uprisings-The defeat of liberal nationalism.
- Marx-Engels: division between historic and non-historic nations.
- Objective criteria of nation-formation, population, territory, market for the development of labor force.
- The small nations should be eliminated for the sake of progress and revolution.

Nationalism turns conservative
- The state monopolised national narrative: state sponsored nationalism
- Belated nationalisms: Italian Unification (Risorgimento) – 1861, German Unification 1871, (Bismarck)
- Liberalism supported by powerful bourgeoisie leads to pariamentary democracy (England).
- Absence of an autonoums bourgeoise leads to authoritarianism (Germany).

Different Approaches to nationalism
- Jules Michelet, 1867, History of the French Revolution
- He reaffirms the nation as a fraternity between equals (J.J.Rouseau).
- Patriotism becomes a new religion and the progressive force of European history.
- After the French-German war in 1870, Ernest Renan, 1882, What is a Nation?
- Nation as voluntary historical solidarity is opposed to the organic ethno-linguistic unity,
- Social and phsycological features, the shared experiences and common memories.
- Lord Acton, 1862, Nationality.
- He defends the English concept of liberal nationality and rejects the French concept of racial collective nationality.
- Multinational Empires are superior to nations. Nation is the product of state absolutism.
- Maurice Barrès. Action Française, 1898, royalist movement founded after the Dreyfus affair & revitilization of left-wing criticism launched by Emile Zola’s ‘J’accuse’ (I accuse).
- Nation as an organic entity of blood and soil.
- Max Weber, 1914, Economy and Society, the nations are conflict groups and bearers of unique cultural values which are superior exactly because they are unique.
- State and nation need each other, only political action can transform an ethnic community to a nation.

National movements in the Balkans
- 1804/ 1815 Serbian uprising – 1830 autonomy.
- 1821 Greek uprising – 1830 independence.
- 1859 Unification of Wallachia and Moldavia principalities into Romania.
- 1870 Bulgarian Exarchate.
- 1878 Berlin Conference (Independent Serbia/Romania/Montenegro, Autonomous Bulgaria)
- Eastern Question and the balance of powers.
- Local elites disenchanted from their exclusion from the Ottoman administration.
- From intermediaries they turn to national leaders.
- Intensive interaction with European educational and commercial network.
-Western Imperialism.

Characteristics of the Balkan states
- Secular nationalism is replaced by national religion (millet system)
- Agrarian societies, minimal urbanization, no industry.
- Should modernization be western oriented or respond to the needs of the peasantry?
- Nation building: urban elites use mechanisms such as education, military, judiciary in order to integrate the peasantry to the nation.
- Irredentism, (claim of territory outside the boundaries of the state on the grounds that this populations belong to our nation) might consume resources but it galvanizes national consciousness by providing a vision for the future (Great Idea).
- Revolutionaries vs evolutionists (Independence vs Dualism).
- Masses in to politics, from romantic reference to the past to modern vision for the future.
- Dynamism, energy, masculinity, survival of the most powerful.
- Middle classes claim their participation and nationalism will provide them with the means to achieve this participation.

Turn of the Century Culmination of Nationalism
- Macedonian Struggle (Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian. Macedonian nationalism)
- Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO).
- Macedonian Committee in Sofia and in Athens
- Iliden uprising, 1903 and Murzsteg Reforms.
- Young Turk movement.
- Balkan Wars 1912-1913.

Uprising against the Old Regime
- Constitutional and other movements- Iran 1905-1911, Russia 1905, Greece, 1909
- Young Turks Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress, CUP).
- 23 July 1908, the constitution is restored.
- Integrity of the Empire, subjects into citizens, removal of ethnoeligious privileges, liberalism, positivism, equality (müsavat), fraternity (uhuvvet), freedom (hürriyet) and justice (adalet).
- Balkan Wars: The proclamation of the Balkan nations against the Empire will be based on religion whereas the Empire will invite the citizens to fight for the Constitutional Motherland.
- The terns have been reversed.