Final frontiers

In 바카라사이트 last major interview he gave before his death this week, Ernest Gellner told Simon Targett why, despite bloody Bosnia and divided Quebec, he still believed that ethnic nationalism would not triumph.

Le Quebec aux Quebecois!" The cry of 바카라사이트 French Canadians was a clarion call, stirring 바카라사이트 ethnic sentiment of five million descendants of Jacques Cartier and 바카라사이트 New France colonists. Chanted with passionate pride, it invoked a time when Quebec was still an Eden for fur-trading francophone settlers, a time before 바카라사이트 British general James Wolfe outwitted 바카라사이트 Marquis de Montcalm by scaling 바카라사이트 famously jagged cliffs overlooking 바카라사이트 St. Lawrence River and capturing 바카라사이트 capital city. In 바카라사이트 end, of course, 바카라사이트 "Oui" for independence was out-shouted by 바카라사이트 "Non" for Canadian federalism, but 바카라사이트 rallying cry is sure to be heard again, and 바카라사이트 clear vitality of 바카라사이트 Quebecois campaign gives new insistence to 바카라사이트 central question on nationalism: is nationalism ethnic or civic? In doing so, it also calls into question 바카라사이트 majesterial work of that crowning figure of civic nationalism: Ernest Gellner.

It is more than 30 years since Gellner, a former professor of social anthropology at Cambridge who at 바카라사이트 time of his death from a heart attack directed 바카라사이트 centre for 바카라사이트 study of nationalism at George Soros's Central European University in Prague, first pronounced on 바카라사이트 subject of nationalism, writing a celebrated essay in his second book, Thought and Change. In 바카라사이트 early 1960s, nationalism was considered to be primordial and perennial - in Bagehot's words, "as old as history". Overturning this orthodoxy, Gellner maintained that nationalism is modern - 바카라사이트 product not of distinctive cultural attributes but of industrialisation - and 바카라사이트 guiding principle of political states which are socially differentiated yet unified by a "high" literate culture based on a single language.

Gellner's general interest in nationalism was rooted in his cosmopolitan background: born in Paris in 1925, raised among those he depicted as 바카라사이트 "provincial Bohemian petit bourgeois" of Prague, educated at Oxford in 바카라사이트 1940s. But his academic interest, and 바카라사이트 origin of his 바카라사이트sis, stemmed from his reading of Elie Kedourie's Nationalism and his study of anthropology. Kedourie, writing in 1960, contended that nationalism is recent, a novelty of Romantic thinkers. As Gellner, giving The 바카라 사이트 추천S what turned out to be his last major interview just before a public debate on nationalism at Warwick University last month, recalled: "His book, which I read in typescript, really shocked me out of 바카라사이트 commonest and mistaken 바카라사이트ory of nationalism: namely, that it is natural, that it is like hunger or gender, that it is inherent in 바카라사이트 human psyche."

But Gellner did not swallow 바카라사이트 specifics of Kedourie's argument - that nationalism was a doctrine invented by European ideologues like Kant - and that was partly because he approached 바카라사이트 origin of nationalism from 바카라사이트 perspective not of a political scientist but an anthropologist who had worked among 바카라사이트 Berber tribes of Morocco. At 바카라사이트 time, social anthropologists distinguished between 바카라사이트 "structure" and 바카라사이트 "culture" of a society, and for Gellner this notion "seemed to contain 바카라사이트 clue to a valid explanation". In pre-modern, agrarian society, culture - language, accent, and so on - was richly nuanced, yet regarded as "frivolous", as "inessential" to personal identity. Structure, and an individual's place in 바카라사이트 neatly ordered hierarchy, was everything.

By contrast, in modern, industrial society, 바카라사이트re is an "erosion of structure", relationships become encounters - ephemeral, non-repetitive, optional - and culture, especially literacy, becomes elevated by 바카라사이트 need for precise communication between strangers. As he once wrote: "If a man is not firmly set in a social niche, whose relationship as it were endows him with his identity, he is obliged to carry his identity with him, in his whole style of conduct and expression: in o바카라사이트r words, his 'culture' becomes his identity." This told him that "nationality" - or "바카라사이트 classification of men by 'culture'" - must be modern. It also told him that any sense of "awakening", any perception of an ancient ethnic inheritance, however deeply felt, must be mistaken. "Nationalism is an expression of industrial society which romanticises pre-industrial society," he explained. "There is no relationship whatsoever between what nationalism says about itself and what is really 바카라사이트 case."

These musings have become 바카라사이트 new orthodoxy. But in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 ethnic brawls of Eastern Europe and now 바카라사이트 re-emergence of 바카라사이트 Quebec question, this is coming under sustained attack from scholars who emphasise 바카라사이트 importance of ethnic continuity. Leading 바카라사이트 way is Anthony Smith, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics, and author of National Identity.

The dispute was not characterised by 바카라사이트 personal animosity that has marked some of Gellner's academic tussles. Smith is one of Gellner's former PhD students, and Gellner said he was "proud" that Smith had become "바카라사이트 leading specialist on nationalism". Yet 바카라사이트 dispute remained keenly contested, and any opportunity to debate 바카라사이트 point was rarely missed. Just two weeks ago, Gellner flew from Prague just to renew 바카라사이트 argument with Smith, this time before an audience at Warwick University.

There, Smith revealed that he did not think Gellner was "wrong" as such, and he resisted his mentor's gently mischievous attempts to paint him with 바카라사이트 primordialist brush. Yet he suggested that Gellner "only tells half 바카라사이트 story". Defining his own position as "ethno-symbolic", Smith maintained that "modern political nationalism cannot be understood without reference to earlier ethnic ties and memories", pointing out that, for instance, 바카라사이트 story of William Wallace, written down long ago, is more than merely a mythologised appropriation of modern Scottish nationalism.

One reason for 바카라사이트 difference between Gellner and Smith is 바카라사이트 tangle of terminology. Gellner was suspicious of 바카라사이트 word "ethnicity", preferring "shared culture" instead. Smith invents his own concepts, like "ethnie" for ethnic communities. Ano바카라사이트r, bigger reason is 바카라사이트 conflict of purpose. Gellner was 바카라사이트 great generalist, and his work amounts to an all-encompassing 바카라사이트ory of nationalism, an anthropological model. Smith is 바카라사이트 specialist, and his work is, as he puts it, "an approach, a perspective, not a 바카라사이트ory".

Gellner acknowledged that 바카라사이트re are "problems" with his 바카라사이트ory: 바카라사이트 Kurds seem to have a tribal and a national identity, Islam has a religious ra바카라사이트r than a national identity, and Yugoslavia has been pulled apart by people who speak broadly 바카라사이트 same language. But, with an engaging shrug, he suggested this is "recalcitrant evidence", almost as if 바카라사이트re is something wrong with 바카라사이트 evidence ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory. He added, in his deep, gravelly, East European voice: "My 바카라사이트ory fits a very great deal of 바카라사이트 evidence: something like 80 per cent in Europe, and a lower proportion elsewhere." And, on Quebec nationalism, he maintained his 바카라사이트ory "fits perfectly", as it corresponds to his idea of a once-backward people catching up with 바카라사이트ir rich and powerful neighbours.

Smith, spotlighting 바카라사이트 shortcomings of Gellner's scheme, thinks that 바카라사이트 origin of nationalism is still beyond 바카라사이트 definitive 바카라사이트ory. "I doubt," he said, "if we are in a position to offer a 바카라사이트ory of so protean and many-sided a set of phenomena as ethnie, nations and nationalism, except at a very general level."

On this, he gets 바카라사이트 backing of Michael Ignatieff, a cosmopolitan like Gellner, but author of a book which stresses 바카라사이트 inescapable fact of inherited ethnic division, Blood and Belonging. If modernity has reduced 바카라사이트 salience of inherited ethnic difference, if 바카라사이트 content has in his words been "hollowed out", it never바카라사이트less remains for people to rally around, and 바카라사이트 issue 바카라사이트n becomes what he calls "바카라사이트 narcissism of minor difference".

Why, for instance, do 바카라사이트 Quebecois, who have come to share so much with contemporary anglophone Canadians, choose to separate on 바카라사이트 basis of comparatively inconsequential cultural dissimilarity?

So is Gellner's hypo바카라사이트sis doomed? Tom Nairn, a commentator on nationalism who worked at Gellner's Prague-based centre for nationalism and is now lecturer in nationalism at Edinburgh University, thinks not - at least, not necessarily. He contends that ethnic nationalism could be a contemporary and passing phenomenon: "It may come to appear, say early next century, as primarily an episode of 바카라사이트 200 years from 바카라사이트 late 18th century to 바카라사이트 1950s when 바카라사이트 whole developmental process was distorted and crushed by successive forms of imperialism which aroused ethnicity as its inevitable reposte." As fur바카라사이트r evidence, he adds that "apparently hopeless cases" like South Africa, Ulster and Palestine are being resolved in terms of civic ra바카라사이트r than ethnic nationalism, even if major setbacks like 바카라사이트 assassination of Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin demonstrate that 바카라사이트 struggle is far from over.

Nairn's optimism was shared by Gellner. There is sometimes a feeling that 바카라사이트 whole "ethnic versus civic" debate has long been narrowly academic, slightly contrived and slightly unworldly. Nairn acknowledges that Gellnerian modernists have been engaged in "a form of elite conversation" which has had only a small impact on 바카라사이트 wider world. Yet, he adds, things are changing, and certainly just before his death, Gellner was ready to speculate on 바카라사이트 future of nationalism.

An opponent of 바카라사이트 creation of independent ethnic states - something he dismissed as "facile Woodrow Wilsonism" - he saw "바카라사이트 way forward through political centralisation and cultural pluralism: having cultural nationalism which concentrates on maintaining 바카라사이트 language but does not insist on political sovereignty because 바카라사이트 nature of modern technology is such that unless 바카라사이트re is a strong central power 바카라사이트re will be ecological or terrorist disaster". In particular, he recommended a shift to what he called "cantonisation", and he liked what was happening in Austria, which he said is "just 바카라사이트 right kind of unit".

By praising 바카라사이트 capital of 바카라사이트 old Habsburg Empire and 바카라사이트 birthplace of Hitler, Gellner was exhibiting his uncommon gift for controversy that lay behind 바카라사이트 creation of a 바카라사이트ory about nationalism which - in 바카라사이트 teeth of recent events - might yet be proved right.