Nation and Memory in

Eastern Europe
(19th and 20th century)

Christoph Mick
Lecture 2
Nation and Nation Building II

Week 3

7/15/2017
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Nations as Imagined Communities
3. Miroslav Hroch and the Small Nations
4. Conclusion
 A nation is
(Miroslav Hroch)
a large social group integrated by

a combination of several kinds of objective

relationships (economic, political,
linguistic, cultural, religious, geographical,
historical), and their
subjective reflection in collective
consciousness.
 Particularly important roles play
a memory of some common past;
a density of linguistic or cultural ties enabling a
higher degree of social communication within
the group than beyond it;
a conception of the equality of all members of
the group organized as a civil society

Miroslav Hroch, From National Movement to the Fully/Formed Nation,

p. 61
 Lateral Ethnies Vertical Ethnies

Nation building from above Nation building from below

Essential role of the state and Essential role of intelligentsia,

his administration common myths, symbols and
other cultural products

Anthony D. Smith: The Origins of Nations, pp. 109-123

A nationalist argument is a political doctrine built upon
three basic assertions:

a. There exists a nation with an explicit and peculiar

character.
b. The interests and values of this nation take priority over
all other interests and values.
c. The nation must be as independent as possible. This
usually requires at least the attainment of political
sovereignty.
John Breuilly, Nationalism and the State (Chicago, 1985), p. 3
 Types of Nationalism (Michael Hechter)

State-building nationalism: England, France

Peripheral nationalism: Quebec, Scotland, Catalonia
Irredentist nationalism: Sudeten Germans, Hungarians in
Romania
Unification nationalism: Germany, Italy

Michael Hechter, Containing Nationalism (Oxford, New

York, 2000), pp. 15-17
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Nations as Imagined Communities
3. Miroslav Hroch and the Small Nations
4. Conclusion
 Benedict Anderson

A nation is
an imagined community and imagined
as both inherently limited and sovereign.

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on

the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition
(London, New York, 1991)
 Benedict Anderson

Preconditions of nations

Capitalism as a modern system of

production and productive relations
Print as a modern technology of
communication
Human linguistic diversity
 Benedict Anderson

The nation as a community imagined

through language is simultaneously open
and closed

For it shows from the start the nation was

conceived in language, not in blood, and that
one could be invited into the imagined
community.
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Nations as Imagined Communities
3. Miroslav Hroch and the Small Nations
4. Conclusion
1900
 Nation building in non-dominant ethnies

(Phase A) Groups in the ethnic community start to discuss their own

ethnicity and conceive of it as a nation-to-be: scholarly enquiry into and
dissemination of an awareness of the linguistic, cultural, social and
historical attributes of the nation-to-be
(Phase B) A new range of activists try to awaken national
consciousness and to persuade as many members as possible of the
ethnic group the potential compatriots that it is important to gain all
the attributes of a fully-fledged nation: (1) development of a national
culture based on the local language and its use in education,
administration and economy, (2) civil rights and self-administration, (3)
creation of a complete social structure beginning of a national
movement
(Phase C) A mass movement is formed which pursues these aims: a
fully-fledged social structure of the would-be nation comes into being

Miroslav Hroch, From National Movement to the Fully-Fledged Nation, pp. 61-62
Four types of National Movement in non-dominant ethnies (Miroslav
Hroch)

1. The inception of national agitation (Phase B) began under the old regime
(absolutism), Phase C started in a time of revolutionary changes, the
national leaders formulated their national programme in a time of political
upheaval: Czech, Hungarians (1848 revolution)
2. Phase B started under the old regime, but Phase C (mass movement)
was delayed after a constitutional revolution either by uneven economic
development or foreign oppression: Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Croatia
Slovakia, Ukraine
3. Phase C started under the old regime, before the establishment of a civil
society or constitutional order: Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria
4. Phase B (national agitation) began under constitutional conditions and
Phase C was sometimes early reached (Basque, Catalonia), after a long
delay (Flanders) or not at all (Wales, Scotland, Britanny)
 Outline
1. Introduction
2. Nations as Imagined Communities
3. Ethno-Symbolism
4. Miroslav Hroch and the Small Nations
5. Conclusion
 Pattern of a successful national
movement (M. Hroch)
A crisis of legitimacy
A certain amount of vertical social mobility
(educated people from the non-dominant
group)
High level of social communication (literacy,
schooling, market relations)
Nationally relevant conflicts of interest