INTRODUCTION

This book was conceived at a time of intense speculation about the future of nation-states and nationalism. On the one hand a variety of interrelated global processes seemed to be undermining the nation-state, both in terms of its political sovereignty and legitimacy, and in terms of its primacy as a focus for social identity The globalisation of the market economy, accelerated by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and exemplified in Europe by the rapid development of supranational institutions, has increasingly set limits on the capacity of national governments to act independently. At the same time, alongside the decay of traditional ideologies based on the ties of class or religion, which often acted as mediating agencies of national identity, the impact of mass migratory movements has created more pluri-cultural societies which are less amenable to the historic ‘homogenising’ myths of nation-statehood.