Political Science: Are Nations Real?
Most people experience their national identity as something natural, as fundamental as family, as instinctive as language. Yet for most of human history, this form of belonging simply did not exist. A peasant in eighteenth-century Languedoc felt no kinship with Parisians; loyalty was local, owed to lords and churches, not to an abstract “French people.” So where did nations come from?
This masterclass examines one of the most important debates in the study of politics: whether nations are ancient communities that evolved organically over centuries, or modern inventions, deliberately constructed through politics and education. Dr Theiner traces the origins of national feeling to the revolutions of the 18th and 19th century, where political authority was claimed in the name of “the nation.” But the revolutionaries faced a problem: the nations they invoked did not yet exist in reality. Regional languages and local loyalties had to be systematically transformed into a shared national consciousness. The nation, in short, had to be made.
This raises questions that remain fiercely contested among scholars. If nations are what Benedict Anderson called “imagined communities,” does this make national feeling less real – or less legitimate? Why do these constructed identities generate emotions powerful enough that millions have willingly died for them? And if national identities were made once, can they be un-made or re-made? These questions are essential for understanding why nationalism remains such a potent force in contemporary politics, from independence movements to Brexit to the resurgence of nationalist parties across Europe.
Dr Patrick Theiner
Dr Patrick Theiner is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. He holds an MA from the University of Tübingen, and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. He specializes in teaching introductory classes for undergraduates, mostly in the fields of international relations and comparative politics. His research spans multiple fields, such as international and regional organizations, especially processes of institutional design and development, parliaments, internet governance, and global health.
