Waves of war: nationalism, state formation, and ethnic exclusion in the modern world

"Why did the nation-state emerge and proliferate across the globe? How is this process related to the wars fought in the modern era? This book offers a new perspective on these issues. Analyzing datasets that cover the entire world over long stretches of time, Andreas Wimmer shows that political power and legitimacy are central to our understanding of nation building, ethnic politics and the violent conflicts associated with both. He argues that shifting from dynastic or imperial legitimacy to rule in the name of a nationally defined people was both the consequence and the cause of wars between and within states. Once the 'like over like' principle was established, the ethno-political inequality that characterized nation-states with weak institutional capacity led to further ethnic conflict. Waves of War demonstrates why nationalism and ethnic politics are crucial for a proper understanding of world and domestic politics over the past 200 years"--

Why did the nation-state emerge and proliferate across the globe? How is this process related to the wars fought in the modern era? Analyzing datasets that cover the entire world over long stretches of time, Andreas Wimmer focuses on changing configurations of power and legitimacy to answer these questions. The nationalist ideal of self-rule gradually diffused over the world and delegitimized empire after empire. Nationalists created nation-states wherever the power configuration favored them, often at the end of prolonged wars of secession. The elites of many of these new states were institutionally too weak for nation-building and favored their own ethnic communities. Ethnic rebels challenged such exclusionary power structures in violation of the principles of self-rule, and neighboring governments sometimes intervened into these struggles over the state. Waves of War demonstrates why nation-state formation and ethnic politics are crucial to understand the civil and international wars of the past 200 years