Words and Things

Reference

ERNEST GELLNER

Language Study & Reference

Penguin??Books

Western democracies are "open societies" in which neither the state nor religion try to achieve a monopoly of power or the exclusive claim on people's hearts. In between the state and the family are countless other institutions, from trade unions to stamp collecting clubs, from student organizations to churches and protest movements. This is the civil society. Before the fall of communism in 1989, all this was prescribed. The state (the Communist Party) controlled everything. In the Middle East (Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia especially), this remains the case. In Eastern Europe there is a burgeoning civil society. In fundamentalist Islamic society there is none. Why not? This book tries to find out why.

Conditions of Liberty

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Hamish Hamilton Ltd.

A defining force in world history, nationalism remains an inescapable feature of a modern condition. It has underpinned the emergence of many states, and the conflict it has often generated has caused enormous suffering, both directly and indirectly. Nationalism remains a powerful influence today; in the former Yugoslavia and the successor states of the Soviet Union it has instigated great violence and attrocity. In this incisive and provocative book, completed just before his death, Ernest Gellner - described as "one of the last of the great central European polymath intellectuals" by the Financial Times - explores the phenomenon of nationalism, tracing its emergence and roots in the modern industrialized nation state, its links with romanticism and its creation of national myhs. He investigates its various manifestations and reveals how in long established states such as France, it has been relatively benign, while in Eastern Europe in particular - where nationalist feeling preceded the emergence of modern states - its influence has been far more problematic, and at times disastrous. Finally, the book explores the prospects of minimizing the influence of nationalist feeling and cautiously anticipates the possibility of its decline in this decade of continuing atrocities and "ethnic cleansing." Lucid and direct, Gellner's work combines politics, history, philosophy, and anthropolgy with the multidisciplinary flair for which he was renowned. As nationalism continues to inform contemporary politics, often with vicious and tragic results, Gellner's last words on the subject are essential reading.

Nationalism (Master Minds S.)

Business & Money

Economics

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

<p>A provocative essay on a subject that, since the collapse of the Soviet empire, has become once again, a central subject of contemporary politics. Lucid, witty and brilliant, Gellner's essay combines the perspectives of politics, history, philosophy and anthropology with the multidisciplinary flair for which he is renowned</p>

Nationalism (Master Minds)

Phoenix Paperbacks

Contemporary Thought and Politics

Taylor & Francis Group

Postmodernism, Reason and Religion

Routledge

Nationalism and ethnic (2000) ISBN: 4000021966 [Japanese Import]

Takashi KatoÌ„

Iwanami Shoten

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Books by ERNEST GELLNER