Nations and Nationalism 1 (l), 1995, 1-2. 0 ASEN 1995

Editorial

The last few years have witnessed a widespread resurgence of nationalism and proliferation of ethnic conflicts. The reemergence of ethnic nationalisms across the globe has taken many people by surprise and forced them to reassess prevailing assumptions and beliefs about the direction of historical development and the motive forces of social change. In longer historical perspective, the latest resurgence of nationalism is one of many since the French Revolution which have propelled the nation into the forefront of world politics. Given the unsatisfied aspirations of ethnic communities in many parts of the world, it is unlikely that the present wave of nationalisms will be the final one.

Already in the 1960s scholars were shaken out of their complacent attitudes by the ‘ethnic revival’ in the affluent, democratic and old- established states of the West. That revival spurred a growing interest in, and reassessment of, the national state and nationalism. This can be seen in the proliferation of case studies and comparative investigations of nations and nationalism in the period of decolonisation in Africa and Asia, and the subsequent attempts to provide broader models and theories of the phenomena of nations and nationalism. Although there had been important, mainly historical, work in the field before the 1960s, it is undoubtedly the case that we had to wait for the ‘ethnic revival’ to produce a body of systematic theorising in this complex and elusive area.

The explosion of research in the field, coupled with the dramatic events at the end of the 1980s, led to the establishment in 1990 of a worldwide research network of scholars in the field, The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN), which has already brought together over 400 scholars from many disciplines and continents. Among its many activities, ASEN organises major conferences each year, as well as many seminars, lectures and mini-conferences. It also publishes twice a year a Bulletin of information in the field.

However, with the immense interest in the field demonstrated by the number of relevent conferences, seminars, publications and university courses, ASEN felt there was a growing need for a scholarly journal devoted exclusively to the subject-area of nations and nationalism. Although there are journals devoted to cognate subjects, the scope for scholarly publication in the specific area of nationalism is relatively limited.

The need for a journal devoted to nations and nationalism was widely echoed by scholars round the world. The basic aims of the journal are thus:

2 Editorial

(1) to be the vehicle of new research, both theoretical and empirical, and act as a forum for the exchange of views in the field;

(2) to identify and develop a separate subject-area as a field of study in its own right, and unify the body of scholars in the field;

(3) to bring to the attention of the wider scholarly community, and the public, the need to treat the subject-area as a well-defined field of interdisciplinary study, which requires the collaboration of scholars from a variety of intellectual backgrounds.

With the growth of courses, and even postgraduate degrees, devoted to ethnicity and nationalism, the need to define the identity of this field of study has become paramount. Nations and Nationalism therefore has an important role in helping to create that identity and secure its academic recognition. In that context, the Editors wish to emphasise the multi- disciplinary, as well as interdisciplinary, nature of the enterprise. We welcome articles of all kinds - theoretical, contemporary empirical, comparative, historical - from scholars of every discipline in the humanities and social sciences: law, economics, art history, archaeology, politics, sociology, history, international relations, anthropology, geography, social policy, cultural studies, philosophy and social psychology. Given the ramifications of our field, the coverage is to be equally wide-ranging from the history, theory and comparison of nations to the relations between nationalism and class, the state, gender, race, ethnicity and religion, and to the ethics and international consequences of nationalism. Given the swift and vigorous response to our first call for papers, we are hopeful of fulfilling our aim of making Nations and Nationalism the focus of a rapidly expanding field and the forum for the exciting new lines of enquiry that continually are being opened up every year into the nature, causes and consequences of nations, national identity and nationalism.

ANTHONY SMITH OBI IGWARA

ATHENA LEOUSSI TERRY MULHALL

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Professor Edward Shils (1910-199.5).