Brexit. ISIS. The 2016 U. S. Presidential election. \u00a0The Internet. \u00a0Immigration. \u00a0The Fall of Communism. \u00a0The Protestant Revolution. \u00a0The Second Amendment. Global Warming.<\/p>\n
All of these political phenomena have one thing in common. \u00a0They are all manifestations of the story of a\u00a0novel form of political organization known as the modern nation-state.\u00a0 By \u201cmodernity,\u201d I mean a revolution in social development that is based upon skeptical attitudes, individualistic identities, formal routines, and distinct social realms.\u00a0 By \u201cnation-state,\u201d I mean a \u201csymbolic community to which people voluntarily devote their primary political loyalties despite the many particularistic loyalties\u2013religious, cultural, ethnic, political, social, economic, and athletic\u2013that otherwise divide them.\u201d\u00a0 These are abstract terms, but you\u2019ll see what I mean by them as we proceed through the semester.<\/p>\n
My story is divided into five interlocking chapters. First, in the segment called \u201cModernity,\u201d I introduce you to some basic concepts about the modern nation-state.\u00a0 Second, we travel down the road the West has taken toward a particular form of nation-state: \u00a0\u201cLiberalism.\u201d \u00a0Third, we consider an initially credible but ultimately failed path: \u201cLeninism.\u201d Fourth, we confront the pathos and anger of people living in the \u201cPostcolonial\u201d world of weak nation-states. \u00a0Finally, we return to our starting point to examine the fortunes of the nation-state in an age of seeming \u201cGlobalization.\u201d<\/p>\n