Bespoke Nationalism
How complexity permits ethnic nationalists and
multiculturalists to rub along together
Eric Kaufmann, Birkbeck College, University of London
e.kaufmann@bbk.ac.uk
Complexity
Complexity Theory
• Order from chaos
• Higher level coordination emerges from
uncoordinated lower-level actions
• Feedback loops
• Small changes big effects and vice-versa, i.e.
tipping points
• System adapts to new environments
• Multiple equilibria
• Examples: market, forest, city
Al Qaeda
• Coordinated from Afghanistan
or uncoordinated cells
inspired by the brand?
• As Self-organizing network
(Bousquet 2009)
• Feedback loop from symbolic
attacks which inspire others
• Different interpretations
• Adapts to local circumstance
and information
• Hard to defeat
• Gangs and crime syndicates
similar (Klein and Maxson
2006; Williams 2001)
Complexity and Nationalism
Order from chaos/Higher level coordination
emerges from uncoordinated lower-level actions
• State makes the nation from top down and centre
out?
• Production only? Or do consumers shape the
product
• Gradual diffusion or sudden shifts?
• At best, Hroch’s A-B-C trajectory plus some sense
of Smith’s ‘popular resonance’
What about market,
associations, families?
• ‘Everyday nationalism’ (Deloye)
• ‘banal nationalism’ (Billig)
• popular nationalism (Sidel on Philippines;
Kammen/O’Leary on USA)
• Role of locale: ‘Heimat’ version of nation
(Confino, Applegate, Zimmer)
What of the birds themselves?
• Lenses of nationhood (Kaufmann 2008;
Zimmer 2003; Hutchinson 2005)
Other Aspects of CAS
• Feedbacks: State to
public/market/associations, and back. Not a
structure, a growth
• Network effects: some innovations pertaining
to national identity can spread ‘virally’ from
below, but with isolated pockets
• Response to environment, adaptation:
individuals and groups, not just state. Local
versions of the nation
Tipping Points in Nationalism
Role of rumour and spontaneity in
nationalist violence
Political Theory of Nationalism
• Multiculturalism (Kymlicka, Taylor, Modood)
• Individualism (Rawls, Nozick)
• Liberal Nationalism (Tamir, Miller)
Localism
• Idea of localism seen as an answer to the
problems of complexity
• Notion of market / ‘wisdom of crowds’
• Resource Mobilisation Theory: parties or
social movements which are
branch/constituency-based more adaptable
• Federalism, devolution, subsidiarity in policy
Multiculturalism as National Identity
• MC has symbolic, political, economic
implications
• MC in Europe – few political group rights,
economic quotas
• Mainly a symbolic issue
Constructive Ambiguity
• Agreement wording is
ambiguous
• Sold differently to each
side
• Leaders allow each side to
believe the deal favours
them
Bespoke Nationalism
• Current vogue for integrationist civic
nationalism alienates multiculturalists,
individualists, ethno-nationalists
• Can we placate all?
• Tailor-made nationalism
• Wide range of lenses on the nation tolerated
and validated
• Ambiguity from leaders