Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart (Princeton Studies in Global and Comparative Sociology)

Wimmer contrasts Switzerland and Belgium to demonstrate how the early development of voluntary organizations enhanced nation building; he examines Botswana and Somalia to illustrate how providing public goods can bring diverse political constituencies together; and he shows that the differences between China and Russia indicate how a shared linguistic space may help build political alliances across ethnic boundaries. Wimmer then reveals, based on the statistical analysis of large-scale datasets, that these mechanisms are at work around the world and explain nation building better than competing arguments such as democratic governance or colonial legacies. He also shows that when political alliances crosscut ethnic divides and when most ethnic communities are represented at the highest levels of government, the general populace will identify with the nation and its symbols, further deepening national political integration.

• | Author: Andreas Wimmer
• | Publisher: Princeton University Press
• | Publication Date: April 28, 2020
• | Number of Pages: 376 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 069120294X
• | ISBN-13: 9780691202945