‘Emancipatory nationalisms’? The nationalisms of nations without states

Abstract

In today's seemingly ever‐globalizing societies, nationalism remains a potent force, most recently illustrated by national governments' responses to the COVID‐19 crisis. Even though nationalism and its manifestations are deeply entrenched within societies, the term ‘nationalism' itself continues to carry negative connotations, and the dichotomy between ‘good patriots' vs ‘bad nationalists' appears to be widely accepted in everyday life and the scholarly literature. Likewise, the association of ‘good' (meaning ‘civic' nationalism) with Western and ‘bad' (for which read ‘ethnic') nationalism with Eastern forms of nationalism remains prevalent. In this special issue, we critique these Eurocentric approaches to nationalism, highlighting two aspects of nationalism that are often overlooked: 1) nationalism takes many forms, and rather than viewing it as ‘good' or ‘bad, it should be understood as a spectrum spreading across the Global North and South;2) there is an emancipatory and creative potential within nationalism for marginalized and colonized peoples that has been illustrated through cases from the Global South. This potential – represented by the ‘nationalisms of nations without states' – forms the central concern of this special issue. Our selection of cases from both the Global North and South reflects our own approach to nationalism.