Andreas Wimmer

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Andreas Wimmer
AwardsStein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research (2019)
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineNationalism
Institutions

Andreas Wimmer is a Swiss sociologist who is the Lieber Professor of Sociology and Political Philosophy at Columbia University.[1][2] He has a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Zurich.[3]

He is known for his research on nationalism, nation building, and ethnic conflict.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] He is credited with having "notably revitalized the macropolitical study of nationalism."[11]

Wimmer's research into the processes and conditions affecting the development of nation-states suggest that different conditions may have led to the development of nation-states at different times. In Great Britain, France, and the United States, Wimmer argues that elites and masses slowly grew to identify with each other as states were established in which more people were able to participate politically and receive public goods in exchange for taxes. Conditions affecting recent, geographically diverse, postcolonial states may not be comparable.[11]

Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart[edit]

Wimmer was awarded the 2019 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research in recognition of his book Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart.[12] In the book, he argues that three factors tend to determine whether nation-building succeeds in the long term: "the early development of civil-society organisations, the rise of a state capable of providing public goods evenly across a territory, and the emergence of a shared medium of communication."[13][1][14] Harris Mylonas described the book as an "instant classic comparable to Karl Deutsch's Nationalism and Social Communication (1953) or Ernest Gellner's Nations and Nationalism (1983)."[15]

Wimmer does not see ethnic or racial diversity in themselves as detrimental to nation-building.[1] Groups that are not a target of ethnopolitical conflict, that have access to power, and feel that their group is included in a nation, are more likely to report pride in that nation. Where political institutions become exclusionary, ethnic groups are less likely to feel a sense of national belonging.[11]

Wimmer argues instead that linguistic diversity is a key stumbling block to nation-building.[1][16] He argues that a shared language makes it easier for political alliances and networks to emerge within a prospective nation that ultimately contribute to shared national identification.[1]

Selected works[edit]

  • Andreas Wimmer, Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks, New York, Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Andreas Wimmer, Waves of War: Nationalism, State Formation, and Ethnic Exclusion in the Modern World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  • Andreas Wimmer, Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart, Lawrenceville, Princeton University Press, 2017.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Wimmer, Andreas (2018-05-08). Nation Building. Princeton University Press. doi:10.1515/9781400888894. ISBN 978-1-4008-8889-4. S2CID 240305736.
  2. ^ "H-Nationalism Interview with Andreas Wimmer | H-Nationalism | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  3. ^ "Andreas Wimmer". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  4. ^ Hoff, Samuel B. (2015). Wimmer, Andreas. (ed.). "Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks by Andreas Wimmer". International Social Science Review. 90 (1): 1–2. ISSN 0278-2308. JSTOR intesociscierevi.90.1.17.
  5. ^ Lieberman, Evan S.; Singh, Prerna (2012-10-01). "The Institutional Origins of Ethnic Violence". Comparative Politics. 45 (1): 1–24. doi:10.5129/001041512802822860. ISSN 0010-4159.
  6. ^ Loveman, Mara (2015). "Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks. By Andreas Wimmer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. viii+293. $99.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper)". American Journal of Sociology. 120 (4): 1226–1229. doi:10.1086/679221. ISSN 0002-9602.
  7. ^ Storm, Eric (2018). "A New Dawn in Nationalism Studies? Some Fresh Incentives to Overcome Historiographical Nationalism". European History Quarterly. 48 (1): 113–129. doi:10.1177/0265691417741830. ISSN 0265-6914. PMC 6195252. PMID 30443098.
  8. ^ "How to build a nation". ABC Radio National. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  9. ^ "Andreas Wimmer on Differences Between Nationalism, Colonialism & Isolationism | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  10. ^ Dodds, Antonia (2003). "Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflict: Shadows of Modernity" (PDF). Contemporary Political Theory. 2 (2): 251–253. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300075. S2CID 146849103. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Mylonas, Harris; Tudor, Maya (11 May 2021). "Nationalism: What We Know and What We Still Need to Know". Annual Review of Political Science. 24 (1): 109–132. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-101841.
  12. ^ "Stein Rokkan Prize Winners". European Consortium for Political Research. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  13. ^ Wimmer, Andreas (2018-07-04). "Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart". Survival. 60 (4): 151–164. doi:10.1080/00396338.2018.1495442. ISSN 0039-6338. S2CID 158766905.
  14. ^ Roeder, Philip G. (2020). "Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together While Others Fall Apart. By Andreas Wimmer. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. 376p. 27.95 paper". Perspectives on Politics. 18 (1): 221–223. doi:10.1017/S1537592719004924. ISSN 1537-5927. S2CID 214132508.
  15. ^ Mylonas, Harris (2021). "The Determinants of Successful Nation-building: Macro-sociological Political Modernization and Political Alliance Structures". Nationalities Papers. 50: 185–189. doi:10.1017/nps.2020.97. ISSN 0090-5992. S2CID 230564166.
  16. ^ Wimmer, Andreas (2016-09-01). "Is Diversity Detrimental? Ethnic Fractionalization, Public Goods Provision, and the Historical Legacies of Stateness". Comparative Political Studies. 49 (11): 1407–1445. doi:10.1177/0010414015592645. ISSN 0010-4140. S2CID 7998506.
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