The Resilience of the Nation-State: Religion and Polities in the Modern Era.

The article focuses on the resilience of the nation-state within sociology. Also, it focuses on three key assertions: (1) Sociologists generally assume that "society" corresponds to the nation-state, (2) the nation-state is more mythical than real and, (3) there are polities other than states that legitimately exercise power. The first two assertions are discussed briefly whereas the third one is closely examined. The central claim of the article is that "the nation-state is more mythical than real", a description that seems rather dramatized. There is nothing mythical about the pressure to be a nation-state. Countries like Indonesia are forced to cultivate "national" unity while letting he most intransigent groups go their own way. The particular objections that sociologist Sylvia Walby advances to the idea of the nation-state do not seem highly salient. An analysis of the political history of religion in the modern world is that most believers and most religious leaders have readily accepted the nation-state and have happily compromised with nationalism. Indeed, religion has been most politically effective when it has been firmly associated with national identity. Furthermore, the article presents a summary of the disagreement with Walby in relation to religion.