ABSTRACT
Nationalism—an ideology that molds “imagined communities” of distinct peoples, and then is used by those peoples to create politically sovereign nations—reached a high point during the interwar period. This growth occurred because of nationalism’s inherent flexibility: it could enable established states to solidify their position both domestically and internationally, while non-state political actors could use it to challenge existing power structures. Anticolonial movements especially adopted nationalism in their struggle for liberation from foreign rule. Nationalism, or rather nationalisms, took on different shapes depending on the specific social and cultural context, as it became a truly globalized ideology that would shape world politics throughout the rest of the century. This chapter examines how this process unfolded on four different continents.
