ABSTRACT
Ethno-national mobilisations in the West are social movements. Each social movement presupposes the existence of a conflict which emerges with consciousness-raising and brings about collective mobilisation of a specific group. The construction of identity shapes the internal flow of social movements, while the mobilisation of resources directed toward the goals of social movements shapes their external flow. Both the construction of identity and the instrumental-rational mobilisation of internal and external resources are more complex and diverse in ethno-national movements than in other social movements. In each social movement, including ethno-national movements, the importance of identity is, at the outset, crucial. The new nationalisms that emerged in West in 1960s and 1970s were varied in nature. Social movements, on incorporating themselves into public space which they share with political parties and pressure groups, common rules and the normalised activity of the media, tend to become institutionalised, a by-product of which is the smoothing over of the edges of their identity dimension.
