Citizenship, nationality and other identities.

Citizenship, nationality and other identities. The idea that citizenship in a nation-state should be a person'sprimary identity is a recent one on an historic scale. In many cases itis only a hopeful fiction, although sometimes it is a useful one.(1) Formost people this form of identity competes with, or complements, severalother forms of identity, such as race, tribe, language, ancestry,religion or ideology. A person's, or a group's, primaryidentity may well vary with circumstance and context, and nocountry's peoples are homogeneous. This is to state the obvious, ofcourse, yet this human reality is often ignored. It is ignored not onlyin patriotic speeches on national holidays, but often, to our peril, innational and international policies, in the construction ofinternational institutions and in the settling of internationaldisputes. Despite this, nations (in the sense of the government of aterritory and its people) remain vital blocks for internationalprocesses and institutions, however short they may fall from theiridealized versions as nation-states.It is not my purpose here to rehearse the many arguments about theshallowness of the premise that in an ideal world nation-states would beformed on the basis of the self-determination of homogeneous groups.Suffice it to say that, carried to its logical conclusion, thissuper-Wilsonian vision would cover the earth with a complete andnon-overlapping mosaic of tens of thousands of nation-states, each aunion of blood and soil - ein Reich, ein Volk. Even so, there stillwould be significant minorities within most of these mini-states, whileother groups would be spread geographically across national boundaries.The questions of what defines a "people" (or a"nation," in this sense) and of what constitutes their properterritory are ultimately unanswerable as abstract propositions, and, aspractical ones, they are invariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil contentious.There is a vast and sophisticated literature on the rise of thenation-state and on nationalism and its relation to alternativeidentities. In general, these works start off bravely, trying to definesuch terms as "nation" and "state" and associatedones such as "ethnicity," but they are usually forced to giveup at some point and settle for a designative definition. This isparticularly true of the scholarship that the cataclysmic changes innational and international structures that have occurred since 1989,with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the communistempire. Most of these works tried to explain the development of a worldof nation-states, with special reference to the nations of Europe andthe United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Among the most distinguished texts in this genre, andsimplifying greatly for the sake of brevity, one may cite ErnestGellner's Nations and Nationalism Nations and Nationalism is a scholarly interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal on nationalism. It is published quarterly on behalf of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, by Blackwell Publishers, and is available online via Blackwell Synergy. , which takes afunctional-structural approach; Eric J. Hobsbawm's Nations andNationalism since 1780, which takes a Marxist approach; and LiahGreenfeld's Nationalism: Five Roads Five Roads is a hamlet in Carmarthenshire, Wales near the town of Llanelli.Coordinates: to Modernity, which stressesthe role of language and ideas.(2) These are all works of great learningand subtle arguments, that deal with very complex historical processesand suggest their consequences for our times and for the future.Gellner, Hobsbawm and Greenfeld, while not unmindful of the inevitableremaining ambiguities and contradictions in their portraits of themodern age, tell us how we have come to live in a world of nation-statesand that the future, whatever it may hold, is not going to be verydifferent from the past.(3)By contrast, two more recent books (which postdate To designate a written instrument, such as a check, with a time or date later than that at which it is really made. the crumbling ofthe communist empire), Daniel P. Moynihan's Pandaemonium: Ethnicityin International Politics and William Pfaff's The Wrath of Nations:Civilization and the Furies of Nationalism, present a far morecontingent picture of how we have arrived at our present situation, andsuggest a much more fluid and uncertain future.(4) Moynihan stresses thepersistence of ethnic identity as an active factor, sometimes virulentand sometimes benign. He confronts the liberal-functionalist-rationalistbelief that ethnic identity should wither away along with other ascribedstatuses, as well as Marxist theory, which hold ethnicity to be a formof false identity which would wither away with the growth of aninternational proletarian consciousness. Pfaff stresses how, after theFirst World War, the victorious allies carved arbitrary borders anddesigned institutional structures for nation-states in their own image,much as the former colonies of European empires in Africa and Asia weremade into new nation-states after the Second World War. To Pfaff,whatever the vices and malignities of these past empires, they did notdemand strict adherence to any particular orthodoxy but allowedcorporatist cor��po��ra��tist?adj.Of, relating to, or being a corporative state or system.corpo��ra��tism n.Noun 1. diversity within their realm, although frequentlyencouraging ethnic and religious conflicts on the principle of"divide and conquer." To Moynihan, ethnicity is like a weed inthe garden which will not die and will mutate mu��tate?intr. & tr.v. mu��tat��ed, mu��tat��ing, mu��tatesTo undergo or cause to undergo mutation.[Latin m and spring up again innewly-adapted forms to defeat the careful horticulture ofnation-building.What is striking is the difference in tone in the discourse duringthe Cold War and afterward. In the earlier period the primacy ofnation-states seemed undeniable. Since then, the world has become a farmore changeable and contingent place, one where a person's primaryidentity as a national of a country is itself more malleable.Among the forces challenging citizenship as a primary identity arethree which I shall call supranational SupranationalAn international organization, or union, whereby member states transcend national boundariesor interests to share in the decision-making and vote on issues pertaining to the wider grouping. , subnational and transnational.Having already noted the great difficulty of defining subject, I willnot try here to define the exact meanings of these words, but it is myhope that the discussion below will illustrate them sufficiently byexample. I will use "nation" and "country" to mean aterritory and its (more or less) sovereign government. I will use"citizen" or "national" to mean a legal resident ofa country and "nationalism" as a positive sentiment orideology of a national for his country. To avoid repeating a tiresomelisting of alternatives to nationalism as bases for identities, I willuse "ethnic" and "ethnicity" in a very broad sense,to include whatever members of a population believe to be the basis oftheir own solidarity and their invidious in��vid��i��ous?adj.1. Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment: invidious accusations.2. distinctions from other groups(language, religion, supposed ancestry and past injustices, forexample). I will use "nation-state" for a territory and itsgovernment, for which the notion is, whether true or not, that itspopulation shares solidarity on a nationalist or ethnic basis.SupranationalityThe United Nations operates as the preeminent supranationalassociation of the world's nations, each supposedly sovereign and ajealous guardian of its territorial integrity Territorial integrity is the principle under international law that nation-states should not attempt to promote secessionist movements or to promote border changes in other nation-states. Conversely it states that border changes imposed by force are acts of aggression. . Yet at the same time, andespecially since the momentous cataclysm in the erstwhile communistworld, the United Nations has shown considerable sympathy for theprinciple of self-determination of peoples and has readily accepted theformation of a few dozen newly independent states New��ly Independent States? Abbr. NISThe countries that until 1991 were constituent republics of the USSR, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. based on ethnicity interritories that had recently been part of the Soviet Union,Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Ethiopia.How far can such a process of redefinition of ethnic nation-statesgo? It is hard to say, because once some ethnic identities assertthemselves it is almost inevitable that other groups will surface withtheir own claims, and that what at first may seem (at least to the restof the world) a simple two- or three-way division may explodekaleidoscopically into a far more varied one. Thus, Russia now confrontsnot only a self-declared independent and sovereign Chechnya (totallysurrounded by Russian territory), but, also within Russian territory,the inquietudes of Northern Ossetia, and the Ingush, Cossacks, Karachi,Kalmyks, Balkars, Meskhetian Turks Meskhetian Turks are the former Muslim inhabitants of Meskheti (Georgia), along the border with Turkey. They were deported to Central Asia in 1944 by Joseph Stalin and settled within Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. and Abkhazians, to name only afew.(5) Some of these groups seek independence, and some seek to joinsome other country with which they feel (for now) greater affinity.(6)Thus far, most of these breakups and realignments have been relativelybloodless blood��less?adj.1. Deficient in or lacking blood.2. Pale and anemic in color: smiled with bloodless lips.3. , but the horrors in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya are awarning of the vast potential for future conflict, especially when theyinvolve ethnic cleansing ethnic cleansingThe creation of an ethnically homogenous geographic area through the elimination of unwanted ethnic groups by deportation, forcible displacement, or genocide. aimed at creating contiguous nationalterritories for ethnic groups that have been geographically intermixed.In addition to legitimizing the breakup of former nation-states intonew ones, the U.N. has also sanctioned international militaryintervention within some of its supposedly sovereign members where civilorder had collapsed, such as Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda and Bosnia, asituation for which the phrase "failed states" has beencoined. Curiously, while one of the aims of U.N. intervention in Somaliawas said to be "nation-building," that operation was such afailure that it proved the fatuousness of that objective. Consequently,in the subsequent intervention in Haiti, great stress was put onnation-building not being one of its aims.Whatever the wisdom and merits of any one of these actions, it isclear that the U.N., rather than an association and guarantor of afrozen geography of nation-states, has in fact been the legitimizer andfacilitator of adjustments in the world's political geography. Aslong as most of the nations of the world are or feel sufficientlystable, and particularly as long as the United States remains the oneand only superpower, the U.N. will be an instrument for adaptingpolitical geography to changing circumstances while maintaining thehopeful ideal of the nation-state as its organizing principle. Manyother geopolitical ge��o��pol��i��tics?n. (used with a sing. verb)1. The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation.2. a. adjustments lie just over the horizon, a notable onebeing whether Taiwan is a province of China (and whether the governmentof Taiwan is the lawful government of China) or whether it is anindependent country. Another case concerns national boundaries inAfrica, which are recognized (especially by Africans) as having been setarbitrarily and by historical contingency. Amazingly, with the exceptionof the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia, there have been thus far nochanges from the political geography inherited from Europeancolonialism, mostly because of a justified fear of self-perpetuatingchaos and violence. There are now increasing calls by some Africans toredraw To redisplay an image on screen whether text or graphics. The concept is that the first time elements are displayed, they are "drawn," and if something is changed, they are "redrawn." Applications often have a Refresh command that redraws the screen. these national boundaries, peacefully if possible. However thesequestions of geography are resolved, it is likely that the U.N. willserve to legitimize le��git��i��mize?tr.v. le��git��i��mized, le��git��i��miz��ing, le��git��i��miz��esTo legitimate.le��git the outcome in the end.The U.N., as an organization formed by the association of theworld's countries, is needed because of today's globalinterdependence. Effective interaction, by the principle ofinstitutional symmetry, requires that the associated institutionsresemble each other sufficiently in structure. This resemblance has beenachieved on the principle of nation-states, although this formularequires occasional dodging and fudging, in cases such as those of Chinaand Taiwan and, prior to the breakdown of the Soviet Union, in thegranting of U.N. membership to Ukraine and the Baltic Republics. Thesame principle applies to other major post-Second World Warinternational organizations, such as the World Bank, the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF IMFSee: International Monetary FundIMFSee International Monetary Fund (IMF). ) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT), former specialized agency of the United Nations. It was established in 1948 as an interim measure pending the creation of the International Trade Organization. (GATT See General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. GATTSee General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). ), soon to be the World Trade Organization (WTO See World Trade Organization. ). Suchorganizations would not have been possible - or at least would have hadvery different structures - in earlier times, when people around theworld lived under a variety of institutional structures of control farmore diverse than those of today.(7)But it is in the less momentous arena of sports that some of the mosttelling (if not the most important) ambiguities in the principle ofinstitutional symetry can be seen. The Olympics, the World TennisFederation (WTF WTF - who/what/why the fuck? The universal interrogative particle. Also WTH. ), the Davis Cup and the Federation Internationale deFootball Association (FIFA FIFAInternational Association Football Federation [French F��d��ration Internationale de Football Association]FIFAn abbr (= F��d��ration Internationale de Football Association) → FIFA f) are also organized around national units,and the athletes must be nationals of the countries they represent. Butwhat does being a national mean? For instance, because of the coexistingprinciples of jus solis (mostly in the Americas) and jus sanguinis(mostly in Europe) some athletes have a choice of playing for theircountry of birth or for the country of origin of their parents. Thus,Mary Pierce, a tennis player with Franco-American dual nationality An equal claim, simultaneously possessed by two nations, to the allegiance of an individual.This term is frequently perceived as synonymous with dual citizenship, but the latter term encompasses the concept of state and federal citizenship enjoyed by persons who are born or living in the United States, chose to play for France in the Olympics.At some events, Puerto Rico has requested its own representation,independent from the American one. While the breakups of the SovietUnion and Yugoslavia into new, larger sets of nations were in progress,these two countries were represented at international events by more orless unified terms with patchwork membership and equivocal names. It isfairly common for European nations to incorporate into their termsathletes from former colonies which are now independent nations but withwhich they retain an associated relationship.The examples above illustrate the ambiguous areas resulting frominternational organizations based on national units. Yet, internationalsports (the World Cup in particular) command such popular interest andenthusiasm in much of the world that a good showing can create aeuphoria that temporarily swamps sub-national differences into acohesive and proud national identity. Consider the case of Nigeria, acountry at risk of disintegration along myriad tribal and religiouslines and one which still remembers the horrors of the 1968 BiafranSecession War. Currently, it is about to revise its three-statefederation, inherited from the time of independence, in favor of afederation of thirty states. Fears of a national breakup have led totalk of loosening the union to a "confederation" toaccommodate group differences. In the 1994 World Cup the Nigerian teamplayed very well and its early success momentarily united the country innational pride - Hausa, Fulani, Ibo, Yoruba, Ijaws, Ogonis, Muslim andChristian (and some 200 other ethnic groups) all shared in thecelebration; but after the team's elimination, intergroup in��ter��group?adj.Being or occurring between two or more social groups: intergroup relations; intergroup violence.conflictsreturned.(8) The Nigerian team served, however briefly, as a symbol ofits country as a nation in the international arena, in spite of thecomplex realities of its diverse and contentious population.Some years ago one could find frequent speculations that the growthof multinational corporations would render nations impotent or obsolete.Multinational corporations still exist, but what has come to the fore Verb 1. come to the fore - make oneself visible; take action; "Young people should step to the fore and help their peers"come forward, step forward, step to the fore, step up, come out intheir stead are supranational economic and institutional unions, lessglobal than the U.N., but also predicated formally on national units,usually contiguous to each other. The most mature of these, of course,is the European Union (E.U.), but several others are in the process ofdevelopment, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. (NAFTA NAFTAin full North American Free Trade AgreementTrade pact signed by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 1992, which took effect in 1994. Inspired by the success of the European Community in reducing trade barriers among its members, NAFTA created the world's ) andMercosur (which consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).The logic underlying these international entities is the recognitionthat modern economies of scale require markets even larger than those ofa large nation.While in Europe there has been some vague talk of a European identityeventually superseding nationality, there has occurred instead phenomenaof nationalist reaction against further integration, most notably by theBritish right wing. Jonathan Clark, an Oxford don, has written about"the most explosive questions of national identity, origins andpurpose. Can Britain integrate into a unified Europe? Are our traditionsinconsistent with French or German ones? Is our national identity indanger of fading away altogether, like that of Holland orDenmark?"(9) It will be recalled that in 1963 Charles de Gaullevetoed Britain's initial application to enter the Common Market onthe grounds that Britain's character was not sufficiently European.Yet in some ways one of the most curious consequences of Europeanintegration has been the dialectic between supranational fusion andsubnational fission fission,in physics: see nuclear energy and nucleus; see also atomic bomb. , which has seen the re-emergence of regions asimportant players on the international stage. European regionalnationalisms had a resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s, and included,among many others, Bretons, Basques, Catalans, Welsh, Scots andCorsicans. European integration has made it possible for some of theseregions to go beyond protest and nostalgia. The Northern League (nee theLombard League), with a program of disassembling Italy into a loosefederation, is currently part of Italy's ruling coalition.Catalonia has tried to assert its own identity as distinct from that ofSpain, re-establishing Catalin as its official language, independentlynegotiating agreements with international enterprises and using the 1992Olympics to showcase itself for television screens across the world.Barcelona's mayor, Pasqual Maragall, hails the coming of "aEurope of regions." In a recent editorial in the New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times,Nicholas Colchester observed that "the flag of Europe flies moreoften in Scotland, Catalonia, Rhone-Alpes and Bavaria than it does inLondon, Madrid, Paris and Berlin, precisely because it is a symbol of acounterweight coun��ter��weight?n.1. A weight used as a counterbalance.2. A force or influence equally counteracting another.coun to those old, aloof capitals."(10)In contrast to Europe, North America has only two long-standingregional nationalisms. Canada has Quebec and the United States hasPuerto Rico, both with independence movements, but whose causes havebeen hampered by the difficulty of making a credible case for theireconomic viability should they achieve independence. Perhaps as NAFTAdeepens and becomes more established, further economic integration maymake possible some as-yet-unimagined institutional possibilities for theregional autonomy of Quebec and Puerto Rico. In the case of Quebec,however, matters undoubtedly will be complicated by the claims of Creesand Mohawks to most of the territory of the province.In 1993 Samuel P. Huntington published an editorial in the New YorkTimes entitled "The coming clash of civilizations The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. - or, the Westagainst the rest. Future world conflicts will center on divisions ofcultural identity)."(11) It is Huntington's thesis that futureinternational conflicts will be a direct result of the cultural,historical, ethnic and religious differences that make civilizationsunique. Westerners erroneously assume that other civilizations can andwill embrace individualism and democracy, but Confucian, lslamic,Japanese, Hindu and other groups do not view the Western outlook asdesirable. The differences between civilizations will hamper globalpeace efforts and attempts at economic integration.No one can doubt the existence of conflicts based at least in part oncultural differences, such as those between the West and the MiddleEast. But, cultural commonalities can foster peaceful and fruitfulinteractions between distant populations and can benefit thoseconcerned. Consider, for instance, the cultural ties with Africa thatare being renewed by New World populations of African ancestry, aphenomenon taking place from the islands off South Carolina South Carolina,state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW).Facts and FiguresArea, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. to Brazil;or the substantial number of black Americans who are exploring economicpossibilities in the newly democratized South Africa. Consider theexplosive economic growth of China, which has been facilitated not onlyby investment but also by cultural brokerage for others by ethnicChinese from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the rest of the world. Consider thefrequent international cooperation and mutual support among what WinstonChurchill called "the English-speaking peoples."There exists, however, a two-fold worldwide cultural phenomenon thatrivals that of the traditional cultures in importance. First, there isthe spread of English as the de facto [Latin, In fact.] In fact, in deed, actually.This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. international language ofcommerce, diplomacy and science and technology. When the Chinese want tocommunicate with the Thai, they are most likely to do it in English. Ascientist who wants his work to be noticed by his peers had betterpublish in English. That the use of the English language ininternational conversation has come to be the norm is easilyunderstandable, given British and then American economic predominance inthe past century, and the functionality of a common linguistic currencyin a highly interactive world. The irreversibility of this trend becomesevident if one observes the difference between the formal documentsproduced and the informal exchanges among the bureaucrats of the E.U.:While every official document must be translated into each of thenational languages of the 12 member nations, at meetings and incorridors English predominates. As E.U. membership grows and many morelanguages are added, more and more translators may be added to the staffin Brussels, but the predominance of English will continue.The second phenomenon is the worldwide spread of the popular andmaterial cultures of the United States and Canada, notably that of theyouth culture. Jeans and rock music, soap operas and cm span the planet.The jeans may be made in Korea, the rock lyrics sung in Japanese and thesoap operas dubbed into Spanish, but fashions change in distantcontinents almost in concert.Does this suggest a homogenization homogenization(həmŏj'ənəzā`shən), process in which a mixture is made uniform throughout. Generally this procedure involves reducing the size of the particles of one component of the mixture and dispersing them evenly of cultures, the triumph ofcocacolisme? This seems very doubtful. To be sure, as more of the worldfinds its way toward economic development, traditional societies willmodernize and converge in some ways, but there is not necessarily auniform standard of modernity. The pervasiveness of American pop culturederives not from its intrinsic quality, but rather from its materialunderpinnings. American pop culture has developed in the richest andlargest single unilingual u��ni��lin��gual?adj.Making use of or written in one language only.unilingualAdjective1. of or relating to only one language2. market in the world, and the U.S. has been aworld leader in the technologies of communication. In this environment,vigorous institutional innovations have fostered unmatched marketing andpublicity entities such as publishers, networks, movie and recordingcompanies, advertising agencies and a host of related activities. Thisenvironment has also led to the development of a supportinginstitutional infrastructure in the form of copyright and patent law,regulatory laws, intellectual property rights, industry associations andso forth. The underlying reality of American pop culture is the mix ofthe private and public presence of an immense industry, serving a marketgrowing explosively nationally and internationally, and dealing in themost intangible of products: creativity, whatever the merits of what iscreated. It is the information and imagery contained in these productsthat provide the value added Value AddedThe enhancement a company gives its product or service before offering the product to customers.Notes:This can either increase the products price or value. which is being sold. It is to be expectedthat, as other markets grow, international competition in the industrywill increase, partly by learning lessons from the American experience,and that American imagery will lose its near-monopoly. At the same time,the economics of market size will make things very difficult for thesmaller language groups, whose own market are insufficient to supportthe industry and the associated institutional infrastructure.Naturally, there are negative reactions to the exportation ofAmerican culture. Cries against cultural imperialism and for thepreservation of traditional national culture, values, art and languagehave emerged from the French, who are famous for their governmentsattempts to stem the tide Stem The TideAn attempt to stop a prevailing trend. Sometimes referred to as "stop the bleeding."Notes:If a stock is continually falling, stemming the tide would be an attempt to halt the free fall and change its direction.See also: Reversal, Trend of franglais, the use of borrowed Englishwords in French. In Japan there is much debate about Nihonjinron (thetheory of Japaneseness), about which "scholars and cranks, emperorworshipers and politicians, archaeologists, psychologists and economistsproduce an endless stream of articles and books on the unique nature ofbeing Japanese."(12) Similar reactions for cultural preservationare reported from many other places, among them Singapore, Russia, Cubaand China. Some of this is merely the type of inter-generationalconflict recorded since the time of Hammurabi, with the older generationlamenting the loss of traditional culture and values among the young.But it is also more: It is a matter of identities and their future. Inthe past, Roman, Han and Arab empires left enduring legacies andinfluences on other peoples and cultures, yet they did not homogenize homogenize/ho��mog��e��nize/ (ho-moj��in-iz) to render homogeneous. homogenizeto convert into material that is of uniform quality or consistency throughout; to render homogeneous. those they influenced; rather, they contributed to commonalities sharedwithin the enduring diversity of populations and institutions. It mayseem odd to juxtapose jux��ta��pose?tr.v. jux��ta��posed, jux��ta��pos��ing, jux��ta��pos��esTo place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. the ephemera e��phem��er��a?n.A plural of ephemeron.ephemeraNoun, plitems designed to last only for a short time, such as programmes or postersNoun 1. of pop culture and consumerism tothese older models, which dealt with (from the perspective of our times)law, religion, philosophy and social organization. But pop culture isonly the dust jacket to the volume within, which deals with law andsocial organization, and perhaps with religion and philosophy.Increasing international interactions do not require homogenization tobe effective, only a commonality of modes of discourse among varioussocieties. The surface is trivial, but behind it there is an overallintegration which permits coexistence and cooperation, but which, whenit is absent, can create misunderstandings and conflicts.Transnational CommunitiesIt is generally believed that immigrants or their children assimilatein time to their host society. This is undoubtedly still the experienceof many, if not most, immigrants. However, transnational communities,although they have existed in the past, appear to be increasinglyimportant today. These are immigrant groups that establish solidaristiccommunities in the host country, often concentrating geographically inparticular cities and neighborhoods, and who still maintain close bondswith their places of origin, which are often particular districts orcities. These contacts typically include remittances, visiting back andforth, sending the children to be brought up (at least for a time) inthe original culture, continuing social, religious and politicalinteractions and dreaming of returning for retirement. New immigrantstend to be friends and relatives of those who came before, makingmigrations easier through the contacts already established. Suchtransnational communities are not found exclusively in the developedcountries, but I will limit the discussion here to a few instances inEurope and North America.Continental Western Europe has had a large influx of Muslimimmigrants in recent decades, beginning with the guest worker programsof the 1960s and early 1970s.(13) The Turks were initially the principalgroup in northern Europe, but inflows have continued with familyreunification for the earlier migrants, and more recently a substantialmigration from North Africa. Host countries have handled theseimmigrants quite differently. Germany, for instance, with its verystrong emphasis on jus sanguinis as the basis for citizenship, hasallowed only a minute portion of these non-German immigrants tonaturalize nat��u��ral��ize?v. nat��u��ral��ized, nat��u��ral��iz��ing, nat��u��ral��iz��esv.tr.1. To grant full citizenship to (one of foreign birth).2. To adopt (something foreign) into general use. , while offering instant citizenship to those of Germanancestry, even those from distant times and places such as the Volgaregion in Russia. Thus, there are now third-generation Turks in Germany Turks in Germany (occasionally German Turks or Turkish Germans) are people of Turkish ethnicity living in Germany. The term is sometimes applied by association to other, non-Turkish groups originating in Turkey — such as the Kurds. who are legal residents but are denied citizenship. France, on the otherhand, has always had a strong assimilationist tradition and has made iteasy for immigrants (often from North Africa) to acquirecitizenship.(14)The Islamic presence is not limited to these two countries, butexists to one degree or another in every country of Western Europe, andthese vary considerably in their citizenship policies within the Frenchand German extremes. Whether or not they grant citizenship toimmigrants, many of these European countries grant them some form ofcorporate political representation, usually on the basis of nationality.Interestingly, the immigrants and their children have in recent yearstried to improve their political and economic positions by organizing onthe basis of a European pan-Islamic identity. This has provenunsuccessful due to the policies of host governments in grantingpolitical representation on the basis of national origin.(15)The present situation of Talisma Nasrin, a Bangladeshi writer, offersan example of transnational Islamic solidarity, albeit along a sinisterdimension. A fatwa fat��wa?n.A legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar.[Arabic fatw , or "call for death," was issued by herfellow Bangladeshis for writings which were deemed impious. She hassought refuge in Stockholm, but is still in hiding for fear of the75,000 Muslims who live in Sweden.(16) In October 1994 she cancelled avisit to Paris because the French authorities would only allow her a24-hour visa, the Foreign Minister saying that her security could not beguaranteed for more than one day.(17) Fear of a small number of Muslimradicals brings about this bizarre situation, so reminiscent of SalmanRushdie's, who is still in hiding in Britain from the Iranian fatwaelicited in response to his writing of The Satanic Verses.Similarly, it is the fear of possible domestic consequences,including terrorist aggression, that in recent years has madeFrance's foreign policy much more circumspect cir��cum��spect?adj.Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent.[Middle English, from Latin circumspectus, past participle of circumspicere, to take heed : with respect to Libyaand Iraq than the American and British positions. This illustrates thedimension of the presence of large transnational communities within anation's borders: Whether by political pressure or the fear ofcivil disorder, foreign policy is often modified to conciliate con��cil��i��ate?v. con��cil��i��at��ed, con��cil��i��at��ing, con��cil��i��atesv.tr.1. To overcome the distrust or animosity of; appease.2. theseminorities instead of designed simply to pursue national interests.In the United States, a number of such transnational groups havesignificant influence on foreign policy. The oldest and best-known isthe Jewish lobby. While most of the Jewish population in the UnitedStates has been in this country for generations, there is stillconsiderable cultural commonality between a significant portion of theAmerican Jewish community and Israel. It is clear to me thatJewish-American transfers have contributed a large portion ofIsrael's balance of payments, and there are exchanges on culturaland political matters. In spite of an increasingly complex relationshipbetween the Jewish-American community and Israeli policies, support forIsrael's survival and well-being is unwavering and has an obviousand continuing influence on American foreign policy.Another quite visible transnational group which has influencedAmerican foreign policy from the time of John F. Kennedy'spresidency, has been the Cuban community, concentrated largely in Miamidespite efforts in the early 1960s by the U.S. government to dispersethem geographically. Transnational contacts have been limited bystrained U.S.-Cuban relations, but they now include remittances,telephone conversations and visits from America to Cuba. However, theCuban community in Miami is, within the American political spectrum,politically conservative and generally opposed to Castro's rule andto improved relations between the two countries, which they have thusfar effectively vetoed. In my opinion, Cubans affect U.S. policy throughtheir voting power in Senate and House elections in Florida, and throughthe weight of Florida's electoral votes in presidential elections.But there have been many more consequences to the Cuban transnationalcommunity in Florida. Miami had been a beach resort in economic declineuntil the arrival of Cubans revitalized it. It has since attractedimmigrants and sojourners from other Spanish-speaking countries,principally from Central America and the Caribbean. By a process whichGunnar Myrdal termed "circular and cumulative causation,"Miami began to accumulate positive externalities and economies of scale,which in turn attracted other economic activities.(18) It has now becomea major transportation hub, a national recreation center, and, for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, a combination of London and the Casbah, acenter for international finance and for international intrigue,including drugs and arms running. Miami has become a major metropolis,with the good and the bad that go along with this. Its national andinternational character has made it a major presence in thehemisphere.(19)ConclusionNation-states remain the only viable option for internal governanceand are still the building blocks of international relations. Thegrowing importance of transnational and international economic forcesand institutions may blur the distinctions between internal andinternational responsibilities, but at the same time they reinforce theneed for institutional symmetry among national units. Other factors,such as the rebirth of ethnic conflicts, the growing importance oftransnational communities, the general increase of internationalmigrations (including refugees and asylum-seekers) and the newaspirations of sub-national regions, will in many cases lead toredefining the organization and even the self-image of nations. Theconcept of the nation-state as a sovereign country with a distinctiveand homogeneous population will undoubtedly survive, at least as anideal for many, but realities are eroding the validity of the concept.(1) The most vivid portrayal of the process of social construction ofthis form of identity, which equates the people to the state is providedby Eugen Weber in Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of RuralFrance, 1870-1914 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1976). (2)Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983);Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (New York:Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). , 1990); Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: FiveRoads to Modernity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. It was established on January 13, 1913. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. , 1992). Thepublication dates of Hobsbawm and Greenfeld postdate 1989, but the bulkof these authors' work precede it. (3) Dan Quisenberry, reliefpitcher and philosopher, replied to a question about the future:"The future will be just like the present only it will lastlonger." (Roger Angell, "Quis. [baseball pitcher DanQuisenberry]," The New Yorker, 61, no. 41 [30 September 1985] p.23.) (4) Daniel P. Moynihan, Pandaemonium: Ethnicity in InternationalPolitics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); William Pfaff, TheWrath of Nations: Civilization and the Furies of Nationalism (New York:Simon & Schuster Simon & SchusterU.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. , 1993). (5) "Russia's CaucasionCauldron," The Economist, 332, no. 7875 (6 August 1994) pp. 39-40.(6) It should be noted that what is at stake is not merely ethnicsolidarity and sentiment. In many cases what is at issue is control ofvaluable resources such as oil or diamonds. (7) Consider, for instance,the situation in the mid-nineteenth century, when Italy and Germany werenot yet unified, the Austro- Hungarian and the Ottoman empires weredisintegrating, while the imperial European powers were extending theirhold over the peoples of Africa, Asia and the Pacific. (8) "No EasyAnswers (Tribalism in Africa)," The Economist, 332, no. 7880 (10September 1994) pp. 46-8. (9) Cited by Ian Buruma, "ActionAnglaise," New York Review of Books (20 October 1994) p. 67. (10)"Goodbye Nation-State, Hello ... What?," New York Times, 17July 1994. (11) New York Times, 6 June 1993. A more scholarly versionof the author's views is found in Samuel P. Huntington, "TheClash of Civilizations?," Foreign Affairs, 72, no. 3 (Summer 1993)pp. 22-49.(12) Buruma, "Action Anglaise," pp. 66-7.(13) During the prosperous 1960s and early 1970s. northern Europeancountries were undergoing an economic boom and feared labor shortages.They engaged in programs to recruit "guest workers " from theMediterranean basin, principally from the Iberian peninsula, southernItaly, Yugoslavia, North Africa and Turkey. The notion was that duringeconomic downturns these foreigners could be sent home, and nationalswould remain at something like full employment. After the 1973 oilshock, the European countries tried to repatriate repatriateTo bring home assets that are currently held in a foreign country. Domestic corporations are frequently taxed on the profits that they repatriate, a factor inducing the firms to leave overseas the profits earned there. the guest workers,with little success, and their unemployment rates have remained in theorder of ten percent.(14) Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France andGermany (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992). The French,with their standardized school curriculum, see no contradiction inasking the children of immigrants to study about "Our ancestors,the Gauls...."(15) Yasemin Soysal, Limits of Citizenship (Chicago: University ofChicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including , 1994) chapter 6.(16) Mary Ann Weaver, "A Fugitive from Injustice," The NewYorker (12 September 1994) p. 75.(17) Boston Globe, 7 October 1994, p. 11.(18) Gunnar Myrdal, Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions(London: G. Duckworth, 1957).(19) Many other trasnational communities exist today, such as thePuerto Rican, the Dominican, the Haitian and the Irish, to name just afew on the east coast of the United States The "Eastern Seaboard," or "Atlantic Seaboard" are terms referring to the easternmost coastal states in the United States. They touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. . Each has some things incommon with the others, and each has its distinctive aspects. But eachrepresents an added complexity, and perhaps enrichment to the U.S.national identity, while preserving strong links with their communitiesof origin.