ETHNONATIONALISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD.

WALKER CONNOR
AND THE STUDY OF NATIONALISM.
Daniele Conversi (editor).
Londres y Nueva York: Routledge, 2002.
ISBN: 0-415-26373-5, pp. xvi+302, 19.99 (rstica).

This book addresses core issues concerning ethnic groups, federations, homelands
and their psychology, identity, language, nation-building, nation-state, nationalism,
patriotism, primordial debate, race, religion or state formation. Primarily, it pays
tribute to the seminal work carried out by Walker Connor, a scholar of far-reaching
influence for his pioneering studies on nationalism, both state and stateless.

Connor has been a pre-eminent academic in the task of tackling systematically the
lack of a suitable terminology in the study of nationalism: In this Alice-in-Wonderland
world in which nation usually means state, in which nation-state usually means
multination state, in which nationalism usually means loyalty to the state, and in
which ethnicity, primordialism, pluralism, tribalism, regionalism, communalism,
parochialism, and subnationalism usually mean loyalty to the nation, it should come
as no surprise that the nature of nationalism remains essentially unproved. This
quote is a good illustration of his acute sense of conceptual accuracy and
corresponds to one of his most celebrated articles: A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is
an Ethnic Group (Ethnic and Racial Studies, October 1978: pp. 377-400, and later
included in Connor, W., 1994, Ethnonationalism. The Quest for Understanding,
Princeton University Press, pp. 111-12).

Walker Connor has combated the terminological confusion and the lack of theoretical
distinction which has for long pervaded scholar discussions. The ambiguity, poly-
semantic and vagueness which has permeated social science terminology has often
reached unsatisfactory levels of mystification. Exercises of reification such as the
substitution of the concept of nationalism for that of 'nationalist movement', for
instance, clearly underscore the impropriety of utilizing different words for signifying
same things. Furthermore, the misuse by academics of terms such as 'Americans' or
'England', for example, when referring to US citizens or the United Kingdom, is a poor
reflection of the terminological accuracy that is presupposed to professionals of the
maieutics.

One of the main obstacles for the understanding of ethnicity --particularly in reference
to plural and compound states-- has been the failed attempt by social scientists to
formulate explaining theories of a general nature. Such a task is not conceivable if it is
not associated to the development of a general theory of the cultural, psychological
and social systems. This theory lacking, the most reasonable route appears to be the
plausible construction of partial explanations subject to bodies of observation and
phenomena which can be verified by means of factual contrast. This has generally
been the approach taken by most North-American political scientists.

Following Daniele Conversis introduction, chapter 2 offers one of Connors most

substantial accomplishments in conceptual clarification. Among other notions, it

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stresses how the term ethnonationalism should be used to encompass both the
loyalty to a nation deprived of its own state and the loyalty to an ethnic group
embodied in a specific state, particularly where the latter is conceived as a nation-
state. Let us remind that nationalism can refer simultaneously to both state and
stateless nations so that the distinction between the two is often blurred. However,
the emotional sense of belonging to ancestry, continuity and lineage is shared by
both those who hold power and those deprived of it.

Walker Connor conceptualizes the nation as a self-differentiating ethnic group, a

definition which implies two further consequences. On the one hand, it claims a
linkage between the ethnic and the national dimensions; on the other, it emphasizes
that self-awareness carries a stress on perception and on the psychological realm.
The nation is a self-defining category which in many cases cannot be categorized
externally. The subjective experience of self-awareness brings the nation into being.
It follows that the nation-state, the most characteristic modernist construction, can be
regarded as an ethnic state. Ethnicity and nationalism are relational constructs which
make difficult the abstraction and gradation of their manifestations outside the 'real'
existence of social groups.

As pointed out by Anthony D. Smith in the third chapter, most forms of nationalism
have manifested ethnically, something which Connor underlines by stating that all
nationalism is ethnically predicated. Therefore, when using the term nationalism to
refer to a civic identity, a confusion is produced by making synonymous patriotism
and nationalism.

A theme cutting across many of the chapters compiled in the book is that concerning
the primordialist / modernist axis or, in other words, the deterministic / functional
division made among the diverse interpretations of scholars of nationalism regarding
the processes of state formation and nation-building. If it would be problematic not to
accept the existence of 'proto-nations' prior the Modern Age, and that collective
identity of a diverse territorial nature played and important role in the shaping of
contemporary nationalism, it would also be awkward to regard the nationalist
phenomena as a 'natural' product of history beyond the paramount impact of the
modern processes of social, economic and political changes (bureaucratization,
colonization, industrialization and urbanization, to name a few).

The other two chapters included in Part I deal with themes around Connors central
emphasis on emotions and his conception of the modern character of nationalism.
The contribution by Donald Horowitz seeks to identify primordialist ideas in some of
the founding theories of ethnicity and nationalism. Joshua Fishman reinstates the
importance of the affective, non-rational bond in the analysis of ethnicity. He argues
that primordialism tends to become a self-view, whereas constructivism is generally a
view of the other.

Three distinctive cases are included in Part II of the volume. William Douglas
enquires on whether race and ethnicity could really be separable using the case of
the Basque Country. He also explores Aranas ideas as founder of Basque
nationalism and his re-interpretation of history. Beyond the unity provided by
language, mythology and religion, the Basque Country is to be regarded as a modern
political creation. Let us remind that at the time of their individual incorporation into

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the Castillian Crown (Gipuzkoa, 1200; Araba, 1332; and Biscay, 1379), the Spanish
Basque Provinces were eager to keep their own fueros, or local statutes. The chapter
by John Stone concerns the end of apartheid in South Africa and shares Connors
view about the problems of forecasting outcomes in ethnic conflicts with the
traditional categories and instruments available in the social sciences. On dealing
with the Case of Canada, John Edwards argues that all nationalisms are to a certain
extent ethnic, although they tend to present themselves in the more fashionable
civic costume. He consequently questions, as Connor does, the possibility of a
purely civic (non-ethnic) attachment to state institutions.

Part III of the book includes three contributions with applied Connorian perspectives.
Brendan OLeary advances that a stable democratic federation must have a
Staatsvolk, a national or ethnic people, who are demographically and electorally
dominant --though not necessarily an absolute majority of the population-- and who
are to be the co-founders of the federation. Where there is no Staatsvolk, or where
the Staatsvolks position is precarious, a stable federation requires (at least some)
consociational rather than majoritarian institutions if it is to survive. These claims are
meant to be consistent with liberal nationalism, national federalism, and national
cultural homogeneity. William Safran addresses the issue of third-party intercessions
as mechanisms for conflict resolution. However, he underlines the difficulties in
articulating universal, non-partisan conducts as the fair means for inter-ethnic
fairness and impartiality. Concerning the arena of international relations, Safran also
points out how political elites usually disregard, or even support more or less
explicitly, other states oppression of their minorities. John Coakleys chapter
concentrates in a core value of nationalism: religion. He contends that in Europe
most religious conflicts were not ethnic in nature, whereas most contemporary ethnic
conflicts do not have a significant religious dimension. Europes religious wars should
be dated back to an age that would be conventionally regarded as pre-national.

In Part IV, Robert Kaiser deals with the geopolitical element of Connors work and,
particularly, with the significance of national homelands and geographical territory for
ethnic groups. Thomas Spira revisits the terminological puzzle and argues that the
twin-concepts of ethnicity and nationality are intimately linked in both research and
practice. In the concluding chapter, the editor of the book, Daniele Conversi, provides
a general assessment and identifies three stumbling blocks in the form of underlying
approaches: essentialism, cultural determinism, and historical determinism. The
volume concludes with an exhaustive bibliography of Connors work.

This book constitutes not only a most deserved tribute to the seminal work of Walker
Connor. It is also an excellent collection of chapters to be read with profit by anyone
interested in the general theme of territorial politics, and particularly with relation to
the fields of nationalism and ethnicity.

Luis Moreno
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Madrid)