Elie Kedourie's Theory Of Nationalism

Elie Kedourie’s discussion of nationalism, its causes and its relationship to modernization, and its overall evolution is grounded in historiographical evaluation of ideas emanating from a Kantian notion of human beings as having a sense of autonomous tendencies. Elie goes on to describe certain concepts such as nationalism, patriotism, the primordial basis for these concepts and nationalism as whole. Kedourie believes the overarching and unifying factor for nationalism to flourish is a set of ideas that cause homogenization among a group. Also, explicit in Elie’s discussion is the fact a personal willingness is the basis for nationalism. Thus, for Elie, primordial notions of nationalism regardless of its building blocks (race, tribe, language,

He defines nation as an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” He conceptualizes imagined community as a population of people who identify as being part of a nation but can’t possibly all know each other. He then provides a historical analysis of nations. He lists three factors whose demise slowly paved the ground for nations and nationalism. 1) A script-language that played an important role in transnational solidarities like Christendom and the Islamic word. 2) The divinity or cosmological basis of monarchies that demanded loyalties of peopl3. 3) The conception of temporality where cosmology and history were indistinguishable. These elements slowly diminished first in Western Europe and later spread globally. He later provides a list of the basic principles that fuels nationalism. 1) Print and capitalism; it created connectivity and promotion of other than holy languages and people understood languages that they didn’t speak and thus created solidarity among large groups. 2) Impact of Reformation; the process first initiated by Luther and reinforced by print and capitalism created another medium to communicate and mobilize the masses. 3) The slow and gradual local vernacular replacing Latin and other holy and administrative languages like Arabic, which changed the gravitation of power from central empires to localities, thus leading to a new wave of local power centers and