Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Spain, the Basque Region, and Theories of Nationalism
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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses Gellner's and Hechter's theories of nationalism, and argues that when discussing the relationship between Spain and the Basque region, Hechter's theory makes more sense. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVBasque.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
nation there. This paper considers Ernest Gellers ideas of nationalism, as well as others, and whether or not they can help to explain the situation in Spain. Discussion Well start
with Ernest Geller, whose thinking appears to be very well known. His idea of nationalism is that it ultimately rests on "modernity, on the growth society, on industrialism and its
cultural prerequisites. For Ernest, the genealogy of the nation is located in the requirements of modernity, not the heritage of pre-modern pasts" (Smith, 1996). That is, what we mean by
the nation today (and that is by no means an easy definition) doesnt have parents or a pedigree, and it needs none, "except the needs of modern society" (Smith, 1996).
The only way those needs can be met, Gellner argued, was by a "mass, public, literate, specialised and academy-supervised culture, a high culture, preferably in a specific language which allows
context-free communication" (Smith, 1996). (Andrew Smith, who delivered this lecture, was a student and colleague Gellners, and gave the talk in Gellners place; apparently his death was a terrible shock
to everyone.) Gellners basic idea here is that "nations are products of modernisation and could not have existed before the advent of modernity" (Smith, 1996). We also want to consider
Michael Hechters theory of what he calls "internal colonialism." He defines it as a sort of colonialism "practised by the center against the periphery, as for example by London and
the south-east of England against Scotland and Wales" (Hechter, 2006). When this type of "internal colonialism" occurs, outlying districts are subordinated to the center, where economic power and resources concentrate
(Hechter, 2006). "Culture, values, and ways of life characteristic of the center will be favored above those of the periphery, which will be dismissed as less developed" (Hechter, 2006). To
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