Why Has Interest in Nationalism Grown in the Last 30 Years?

Interest in nationalism also grew because of events in Afghanistan. There was strong Afghan nationalist resistance to the Soviet invasion of 1979. In the bitter struggle that followed the Soviets backed the communist Afghan government against the national resistance. For the Soviet Union the cost of defeat was high in terms of economic and military loses. Politically it was also damaging, for it helped to promote nationalism in the Islamic republics and regions of the USSR. Resistance to the Soviet invasion had attracted large numbers of Islamic volunteer fighters just like the Spanish Civil War attracted socialist volunteers.

The fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe speeded up the disintegration of the Soviet Union that Gorbachev was unable to prevent. This again led to an increased interest in nationalism due to the consequences of such a break up. Tensions in the disputed region of Nagorno – Karabakh led to fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan brought the complexity of nationality issues to the fore. Communist Parties within the differing republics gained new leaderships that aimed for independence. Gorbachev did not retain full control of the military. The use of force in Tiblisi and Vilnius did not prevent the break up but weakened and discredited Gorbachev. Yeltsin and the Russian troops who refused to fire on crowds defeated the coup of 1991 that meant the end for Gorbachev and the Soviet Union. Decades of trying to keep pace with the United States in the arms race and cold war also took its toll, for the nationalists it was too good a chance to be missed. Russia has since fought to stop the secession of Chechen rebels with the worst fighting during 1994 to 1996 but the struggle continues. For instance May 2004 saw the assassination of the pro-Russian Chechen president.

Interest in nationalism has undoubtedly grown in the last 30 years as a result of dramatic events that seemed unlikely at the time. At the start of the 1970s there seemed to be little prospect of nationalism having as much impact as it subsequently did. The Iranian Revolution and the success of the mujahedin in resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan started to increase the interest in nationalism. Failure in Afghanistan proved to have profound effects upon the Soviet Union even greater than Vietnam had on the United States. Meanwhile, events in Eastern Europe would lead to the fall of communism and the break up of Yugoslavia and the USSR. However that was not evident from the foundation of Solidarity in Poland or the riots in Kosovo during 1981. Undoubtedly the greater availability of media coverage has contributed to increasing interest in nationalism. For differing reasons the fall of the Berlin Wall and the sieges of Srebrenica and Sarajevo made convulsive viewing.

Bibliography

Anderson, M. States and Nationalism in Europe since 1945, (2000) Routledge, London.

Bideleux, R & Jeffries, I. A History of Eastern Europe Crisis and Change (1998) Routledge, London.

Bullock, A. Hitler & Stalin, Parallel Lives (1991) Harper Collins, London

Comfort, N. Brewers Politics Brewer’s Politics A Phase and Fable Dictionary 1993

Cassell Publishers, London.

Castle, S. 450 million people, 20 official languages: welcome to the enlarged European Union. The Independent, 1 May 2004.

Eatwell, R and Wright, A. Contemporary Political Ideologies 2nd edition, (reprinted 2003) Continuum London.

Eccleshall R, Finlayson F, Geoghegan V, Kenny M, Lloyd M, Mackenzie I & Wilford R. Political Ideologies – An Introduction, 3rd edition (2003) Routledge, London.

Hobsbawm, E. Age of Extremes the Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991, (1994) Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex

Hurd, D. The Search for Peace, A Century of Peace Diplomacy, 1997 Little, Brown and Company, London

McCauley, M The Soviet Union 1917-1991, 2nd edition (1993) Longman, London.

Powell, B & Thompson M Inside the Occupation, Time Magazine May 24 2004 Vol. 163 No. 21 London.

Putin is first; the rest are nowhere, Daily Mail, March 15 2004.

Russia’s new Duma, The Economist, December 23 1999.

Rwanda revisited, The Economist, December 23 1999.

Silber, L &| Little, A. The Death of Yugoslavia (1995) Penguin Books and BBC Books, London.