AIR747 T1 2019 Contemporary International Politics: Nationalism

This annotated bibliography examines six academic journal articles to explore the multifaceted concept of nationalism. The articles delve into various aspects of nationalism, including its definition, global trends, and differences across the world. Ahlerup & Hansson (2011) discuss nation-building and its impact on governmental effectiveness, while Barrington (1997) critiques the misuse of key concepts related to the nation. Bieber (2018) assesses global trends in nationalism, and Brown (1999) explores the distinction between good and bad nationalisms. Modongal (2016) examines the development of nationalism in China, and Verheul (2012) analyzes the emergence of American cultural nationalism. Each entry provides a concise summary and evaluation of the source's relevance to understanding nationalism, offering a comprehensive overview of the topic and highlighting diverse perspectives on its evolution, impact, and variations across different nations.

Student Name
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION(S)
CONTEMPORARY
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

P a g e | 1What is nationalism, and how, if at all, does it differ across the world?
Article 1.
Ahlerup, P. & Hansson, G., 2011. Nationalism and government effectiveness.
Journal of
Comparative Economics, Volume 39, pp. 431-451.
Nation-building is defined as a process that unifies populations in a country by
developing an atmosphere of national unity which makes people feel bound by a sense of
cohesion and community. Authors find that nation-building has a robust history and has
contributed as a political tool in post-colonial Africa (p. 431). In postcolonial Africa, nation-
building after the process of decolonization formed several countries and as a consequence to
it, many disparities took place thereby impacting governmental effectiveness and public
goods provisions.
Ahlerup & Hansson believes that nation-building has a positive impact on political
and economic outcomes particularly in those nations where populations are ethnically
fragmented. However, the descriptive and analytical analysis made shows that nationalism
although act as a strong supporter of successful nation-building it brings in intolerance and
protectionism together with it (p.439). With the help of statistical data and literature review,
the article examines that between government effectiveness and nationalism, there is an
inverted U-shaped relationship.
Although the paper fails to provide a clear linkage between trade openness and
nationalism, the suggestions made in the article concerning the level of nationalism in
different countries can prove very useful in further research. Although data examination is
restricted in many countries, the cross-country examination made in the article reveals that
the paper findings are robust and includes a wider range of alternative indicators and

P a g e | 2
specifications. It can be said that higher level of nationalism can potentially solve issues
which stems out of ethnic nationalism but analysing whether nationalism contains lower trade
flows or not could have made the research more substantial.
Article 2.
Barrington, W. L., 1997. "Nation" and "Nationalism": The Misuse of Key Concepts in
Political Science.
PS: Political Science and Politics, 30(4), pp. 712-716.
This article posits that in most of the definitions related to the ‘nation’ within the
study of the national relations believes in populations self-determination. This makes the
above article research a significant criterion to differentiate between social categories and
nations. As Barrington documents that a nation is like a community where people organize
themselves around self-determination, he also finds that the term nation is often interchanged
according to ethnic groups or ethnicity and thus denoted nation as ‘Loose uses” (p. 713).
Barrington is aware that readers might not accept the definitions made in the article or
make an impression due to the use of some non-academic resources like newspapers.
However, he states that uniformity in definitions has been taken care of especially of key
concepts where several people have developed their viewpoints regarding it. Rather,
Barrington argues that more political researchers must consider making a conceptualised
study on how different people think of politics and nationalism.
This article will be used for making further research as its readers can extend their
viewpoints on violent ethnic conflicts, politics, nations and nationalism after reading this
paper. The article has analytically offered many diversified viewpoints and the list of
references used show a mix of both, academic as well as non-academic sources yet, shows its
relevance to the keywords mentioned. As the role of nationalism might confuse the students

P a g e | 3
and general observer, this paper counts upon different words related to nationalism to help
the readers decide on what nationalism movement is.
Article 3.
Bieber, F., 2018. Is Nationalism on the Rise? Assessing Global Trends.
Ethnopolitics,
17(5), pp. 519-540.
Nationalism is both elusive as well as ubiquitous which permeates the global
processes, people behaviour and states. It can be seen from revolutionary and conservative
perspectives, thereby threatening the status quo. This has made many researchers predict an
end to nationalism (p.519). Even Bieber argues that since there is not a common trend
followed for nationalism, the issues related to it have become prevalent in contemporary
global politics. Bieber noted that nationalism differs across the nations and the increased
visibility to it can be attributed to political and social interpretation of nationalism attitude.
The article uses both descriptive as well as an analytical approach to support the
claims made on the global rise of nationalism. The author uses various sources to define
nationalism, conceptualise several forms of nationalism and how they can be related to risks.
The descriptive analysis finds the relationship between nationalism, authoritarianism and
populism. It is revealed that to determine whether nationalism is in trend or not, global trends
must be evaluated and thus, Bieber collected data from various countries and exposes
nationalism parties over there (p.523-525).
Published by a reliable publication house 'Ethnopolitics', the findings of this article
cannot be neglected particularly in study related to nationalism and global politics. The article
has presented some very critical data by analysing different countries politics and how they
carry nationalism attitude. The only limitation found was that the article, unlike three other
sources, used in the bibliography, does not focus on a particular case study which makes the

P a g e | 4
findings more general rather than conceptual. Nevertheless, the debates made on social and
political attitude can be used in further research.
Article 4.
Brown, D., 1999. 'Are there good and bad nationalisms?'.
Nations and Nationalism,
5(2), pp. 281-302.
Article 5.
Modongal, S., 2016. Development of nationalism in China.
Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1),
pp. 1-7.
Nationalism in China came into existence due to historical developments concerning
both, humiliation and greatness. Since the 19th century, the Chinese considered themselves as
primary developers of the world and were proud of it. But, humiliations due to war with
Japan and Britain changed their perception and developed a new feeling called nationalism in
Chinese. Modongal claims that the behavioural pattern of nationalism changed as per
variations seen concerning other western nations. The author noted that as Chinese
nationalism changed with passing time, the main feeling of Chinese and the “New Left” came
into effect because of humiliations made by outsiders (p.4).
Modongal uses a content analysis method to make analytical research on four critical
stages undertaken by China to develop nationalism. After describing the four stages with the

P a g e | 5
help of several resources, the author documented that at every stage, the causes of the
humiliation made China move towards the next stage (p.5). The findings of the article can be
used further as it makes a comprehensive analysis of bottom-up and top-down aspects in
nationalist feeling development.
The strong shreds of evidence collected and used by Modongal states that even
though communist parties play a major part in civil nationalism, by restricting education and
media, Chinese's people showed nationalism feeling in foreign countries too where
international media can be assessed. The article could have used other similar case study to
make a close comparison of ways humiliated countries adopt nationalism. Moreover, it
becomes difficult to understand whether the governmental tools helped China hide its
drawbacks or the citizens to keep their nationalism feeling on high.
Article 6.
Verheul, J., 2012. “A Peculiar National Character”: Transatlantic Realignment and the
Birth of American Cultural Nationalism after 1815.
European Journal of American
studies, 7(2), pp. 1-14.
This article finds that cultural dialogue during the World War was critical for the
emergence of a new cultural era and nationalism in the United States. Although many of the
researchers cited in the article claim that American cultural nationalism cam into existence
due to self-confidence opposition to the traditional culture, the author posits that powerful
cultural emergence in Europe was never broken easily or occurred at once. Moreover, the
quest for nationality in Americans show similar complexities in the process of the cultural
decolonization process.
As an experienced writer and journalist, Verheul is aware of the limitations of his
findings and analytical descriptions made and therefore, reflects the issues with the help of a

P a g e | 6
series of credible sources. The author utilises his methods and experience with scholarly
research related to the history of cultural nationalism, war, political power which contributed
to an upsurge of U.S. nationality and quest for establishing national character (p.5). The
domestic power struggle described in the article ends at the time of Good Feelings era where
nations develop economic prosperity and geographical extensions contributing to nationalism
development.
The article is divided into several parts and therefore can be easily included in a
research paper. Many parts address the questions about how post-war countries changed
themselves to nationalism and the role of a communication revolution that connected
American citizens (p.4). Although descriptive analysis could have made the article more
reliable, the article can be helpful while investigating case study nations and the effects of
policies in pursuing nationalism.

P a g e | 7
References
Ahlerup, P. & Hansson, G., 2011. Nationalism and government effectiveness. Journal of
Comparative Economics, Volume 39, pp. 431-451.
Barrington, W. L., 1997. "Nation" and "Nationalism": The Misuse of Key Concepts in
Political Science. PS: Political Science and Politics, 30(4), pp. 712-716.
Bieber, F., 2018. ) Is Nationalism on the Rise? Assessing Global Trends. Ethnopolitics, 17(5),
pp. 519-540.
Brown, D., 1999. 'Are there good and bad nationalisms?'. Nations and Nationalism, 5(2), pp.
281-302.
Modongal, S., 2016. Development of nationalism in China. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), pp.
1-7.
Verheul, J., 2012. “A Peculiar National Character”: Transatlantic Realignment and the Birth
of American Cultural Nationalism after 1815. European Journal of American studies, 7(2),
pp. 1-14.