George W. White – författare

Globalization seems to be making nation-states increasingly irrelevant, yet their number has continued to grow in recent years. New nation-states emerged out of the ruins of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia; more still may come as Palestinians, Kurds, Chechens, and other peoples struggle tenaciously to establish their own. Nation, State, and Territory shows that national identities are as potent as ever. Today many conflicts rage over places and territories of historical, linguistic, and religious significance. Many analyses, however, only consider the economic and geostrategic value of territory. George W. White shows that national identity is intimately bound to specific places and territories. "Nation," "state," and "territory" are mutually defining and reinforcing phenomena, and through careful analysis White examines their origins, evolutions, and relationships to provide a better understanding of the interactions and conflicts of the world's nation-states.

Why do nations come into conflict? What factors lead to the horrors of ethnic cleansing? This timely book offers clear-eyed answers to these questions by exploring how national identity is shaped by place, focusing especially on Serbia, Hungary, and Romania. Moving beyond studies of nationalism that consider only the economic and geostrategic value of territory, George White shows that the very core of national identity is intimately bound to specific places. Indeed, nations define themselves in terms of spaces that have historical, linguistic, and religious meaning, as Serbs have clearly demonstrated in Kosovo. These territories are concrete expressions of a nationOs identity, both past and present. With his detailed analysis of the places that define national identity in Southeastern Europe, White convincingly shows why territorial disputes so often escalate into war.