ABSTRACT
The melodic subjects of the counterpoint of nation-state formation are political independence, territorial integrity and constitutions to guarantee human rights; the romantic evocations are of folk traditions that reach back to golden idylls and memories of past glories; the grand themes are those of emancipation, progress and modernity. The piece need not by definition be a masculine one, but it has a masculine timbre. The players are largely men, the action is conducted by men, their instruments are physical weapons and powerful oratory and the rendition is strident, outward bound and aggressive. The diplomats and soldiers who play out the politics of negotiation and the heroism of national struggle and revolution are men of action. And after the battle, all the new president’s men draft the constitutions and sit in parliaments, cradle their machine-guns and build aircraft factories. The stuff of which nation-states are made-war, statecraft, diplomacy and trade-are male pursuits.
