The Ethnic Revival

Since the Second World War the world has witnessed a remarkable efflorescence of ethnic feeling and nationalist aspirations. Among Bretons Basques Scots Welsh Flemish Quebecois Catalans Kurds Ibo Somali and a host of other communities ethnic movements demanding much greater autonomy or even independence have sprung up. Originally published in 1981 this book explores the ethnic separatisms and ''neo-nationalisms'' that at the time threatened to undermine the fragile stability of the world order and to annul liberal and cosmopolitan dreams of world government and a universal scientific culture. What were the underlying causes of this ethnic revival? Why did it assume worldwide proportions? Anthony D. Smith claims that to uncover the cultural root and mental spring of the ethnic renaissance we must look to the development of a sense of history that first arose in eighteenth-century Europe.