Nationalism and its Ambiguities

Abstract

Of all the ideologies that have marked the age of ideology, nationalism seems to have been one of the most successful, if the criteria of success are the capacity to mobilise people, and to influence the course of world politics and political events. At the end of the Second World War nationalism was tarnished by its association with fascism and national socialism, but with the recent collapse of communism, nationalism has enjoyed a resurgence not only in Western and Eastern Europe, but throughout the world:

Since the war, Europe has been built on a liberal project, civil society at the expense of the nation. This project is today out of breath, and the nationalist passions, with their infinitely more powerful cap abilities of mobilization, are again at work (Rupnik, 1996, p. 71).