Andreas Wimmer, Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict. Shadows of Modernity, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.
Press, 2002, pp. 319
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| CONTENTS |
Andreas Wimmer argues that
nationalist and ethnic politics have shaped modern societies to a far greater
extent than has been acknowledged by social scientists. The modern state
governs in the name of a people defined in ethnic and national terms.
Democratic participation, equality before the law and protection from arbitrary
violence were offered only to the ethnic group in a privileged relationship
with the emerging nation-state. Depending on circumstances, the dynamics of
exclusion took on different forms. Where nation building was 'successful',
immigrants and 'ethnic minorities' are excluded from full participation; they
risk being targets of xenophobia and racism. In weaker states, political
closure proceeded along ethnic, rather than national lines and leads to
corresponding forms of conflict and violence. In chapters on Mexico, Iraq and
Switzerland, Wimmer provides extended case studies that support and
contextualise this argument.
