ABSTRACT
The contrast of ethnic to civic nationalism, organic to liberal, Eastern to Western is so habitual today that it is hard to recall that it was invented. Like nationalism itself, it seems almost natural, a reflection of reality rather than a construction of it. But while the distinction does grasp important aspects of modern history and contemporary politics, it does so in a specific way, shaping evaluations and perceptions, reinforcing some political projects, and prejudicing thinkers against others. And it was invented. Hans Kohn was the most influential source both of the opposition of civic to ethnic nationalisms and of its association with a parallel opposition between Western and Eastern versions of modernity.1 The Idea of Nationalism is the most important statement of Kohn’s view, and it occupies a central place amid his voluminous writings as the main general statement of his mature perspective. It is of interest not only because Kohn was an important scholar and public intellectual, and because his contrast of civic and ethnic nationalisms has been deeply influential, but also because his book is an enlightening window onto the more general relationship between liberalism and nationalism.
