Name of subject: National Minority Questions: Nationalism and Politics
Number of Number of classes / week Type of course units seminar
2
terms
1
Course description
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the field of nationalism, ethnicity and national
minorities and to explain the theoretical framework of the topic. The course concentrates on
the major theories and approaches to nationalism.
Each class will start with a short lecture (30 minutes), where I will present the general
framework of the given topic. Students will have to present one of the compulsory readings in
10-15 minutes, which will be followed by group discussions.
Credits
Course schedule
1. Introduction. What is nationalism about? Misconceptions on nationalism (Brubaker,
Wimmer, Verdery)
2. Early understandings and approaches of nationalism. The roots (Rousseau, J. S. Mill,
M. Weber, E. Renan, F. Meinecke, H. Kohn, J. Plamenatz, etc.)
3. Modernist approaches (Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson, Michael Mann, Liah
Greenfeld, Tom Nairn, E.J. Hobsbawm, Miroslav Hroch, John Breuilly, Michael
Hechter, George Schöpflin)
4. Pre-modernist (ethnosymbolist) approaches (Anthony D. Smith, Johns Hutchinson,
John Armstrong) and other approaches (A. Marx, C. Calhoun, Van den Berghe, O.
Löfgren, etc.)
5. Ethnicity I. Anthropological perspectives. Culture (Barth, Eriksen, Jenkins, etc.)
6. Ethnicity II. National identity (Cooper-Brubaker, Connor, Smith, etc.)
7. Philosophical approaches (Kymlicka, Tamir, Taylor, etc.)
8. Introduction. Methodology of research on national minorities. The question of
definition. Typologies of national minorities.
9. National minorities and the state
10. Ethnic/national movements. Ethnic mobilisation. Ethnic parties. Ethnic conflict and
ethnic/national violence
11. Minority rights. Minority protection. Self-determination. Autonomy
12. National minorities in Hungary. The Roma in Hungary
13. Hungarian national minorities in the neighboring states
14. Minorities in Western Europe
Requirements
Active participation and regular attendance (no more than 3 missed classes)
Students will have to read one or two articles or chapters for each class (20-30 pages). Students
are encouraged to approach the topics systematically and take an active part in the discussions.
There will be a strong emphasis on the understanding of the theories, and less on their
applicability for particular cases. At the end of the semester students are required to submit a
paper.
Recommended readings
 Hutchinson, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.): Nationalism: critical concepts in political
science. London & New York: Routledge, (5 volumes), 2000.
 Smith, Anthony D.: Nationalism and Modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of
nations and nationalism. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.
 Brubaker, Rogers: Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the
New Europe. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
 Gellner, Ernest: Nations and Nationalism, Oxford UK & Cambridge USA: Blackwell,
1983
 McCrone, David: The Sociology of Nationalism: Tomorrow’s Ancestors. London and New
York: Routledge, 1998
 Daniele Conversi (ed.): Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and
the Study of Nationalism. London/New York: 2002.
 Cordell, Karl – Wolff, Stefan (eds.): The Ethnopolitical Encyclopaedia of Europe. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004.
 Szarka, László (ed.): Hungary and the Hungarian Minorities: Trends in the Past and in
Our Time. Atlantic Studies on Society in Change 122. East-European Monographs,
DCLVII. Boulder, Colorado – Atlantic Research and Publications, Inc. Highland Lakes,
New Jersey. 2004.
 Tóth Ágnes (ed.): National and ethnic minorities in Hungary, 1920-2001. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2005.
 Kállai Ernő (ed.): The Gypsies/The Roma in Hungarian Society. Budapest: Teleki László
Alapítvány, 2001.
 Kántor Zoltán – Majtényi Balázs – Osamu Ieda – Vizi Balázs – Iván Halász (eds.): The
Hungarian Status Law: Nation Building and/or Minority Protection. Sapporo: Slavic
Research Center, Hokkaido University, 2004.
A more detailed syllabus (containing the compulsory and the recommended readings for
each topic) will be distributed at the beginning of the semester
Staff: Zoltán Kántor (Political Sciences Department)