Nationalism is pivotal to any understanding of contemporary politics, but our conception of it as a historical and contemporary phenomenon remains fragmentary and nebulous. In Nations, Identity, Power, George Schoepflin analyzes the contradictions inherent in our understanding of nationalism in order to fashion a new intellectual synthesis.

In particular he questions why nations in the West are able to live with the nation as the legitimate space for democratic institutions, whereas in the post-communist world, especially in Eastern Europe, ethnicity is preeminent. Schöpflin argues that the nation is simultaneously ethnic, civic and structured by the state. Hence the excesses of ethnicity derive from the shortcomings of state capacity and the weakness of civil society, rather than being an inherent evil. If ethnicity is alive and well, what is its role? Here again, his answer is challenging: ethnicity is one of the bases for consent to be ruled by the interventionist and rationalizing modern state.

With due sensitivity to the implicit, the symbolic, and the ways in which power is legitimized, Schoepflin applies his understanding of nationalism to various East and Central European case studies, including Yugoslavia and Hungary. He also compares the role of ethnicity in other states, including Britain.

Overcoming the limits of both liberal and Marxist paradigms, this novel and thought-provoking book brings us several steps closer to understanding the intricacies of the nation-state and the operation of identity politics in the modern world.