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The subject of this review is the book by Görkem Akgöz, titled In the Shadow of War and Empire: Industrialisation, Nation-Building, and Working-Class Politics in Turkey (Brill, Leiden, 2023, xviii, 374 pp. (hardback), ISBN 978 -90-04-41674-1; Open Access (paperback), ISBN 978-90-04-68714-1). I believe that it is an important review subject, as it is a representative of the new currents in the field of labor history, where through a discursive approach to the sources testifying the human condition of the working class, new knowledge is gained about the processes of nation-building and capitalist modernization. The thematic focus in the book is on the industrialization processes in Kemalist Turkey and the impact of the etatist regime on the formation of the new civil and working-class identities. The author offers successful attempts to debunk older official historiographical narratives regarding memory and ideology about workers' lives and relations on the factory shop-floor in the period from the beginning of the 20th century to the mid-1950s.

Research partnerships between Tribal Nations and rural colleges and universities can support rural development and strengthen Tribal Nation building through reclamation of economic, political, cultural, and social affairs. However, Tribal Nation–University relationships have received little attention in rural sociology. While scholars identify best practices for research engagement in light of colonial harms, the ideal visions that Tribally and university‐affiliated people have for research partnerships and the barriers to achieving those ideals are poorly understood. Without identifying these visions and barriers, we risk making wrong assumptions about each party's needs and cannot implement appropriate policies. Semi‐structured interviews with Tribally‐affiliated (n = 20) and university‐affiliated (n = 20) people in rural southeastern Idaho suggest, contrary to literature on best practices for collaborative research, that participants in both groups viewed what we term "Tribally‐responsive research engagement" as ideal, though few projects met this goal. Tribally‐responsive research directly addressed Tribal priorities but did not necessarily involve close collaboration. The University's failure to acknowledge past or colonial harms, university‐affiliated researchers' historicization of those harms, and negative Native student experiences reinforced distrust, limiting desired research engagement. In sum, Tribally‐responsive research engagement could strengthen Native Nation building, but requires universities to acknowledge harms, create more welcoming campus environments, and prioritize Tribal benefits in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article shows reactions to nation-building practices induced in the last decades of the imperial regime and its antithetical replacement of the current political system. It examines how the post-1991 political discourse and its institutions contributed to Amhara identity formation and mobilization and the latter’s implications for the current political discontent in Ethiopia. The article engages with the discursive narratives—’Amhara domination discourse,” ideological othering, and institutional flaws—that reinforce the development of Amhara nationalism. Using a qualitative research methodology, it gathers data from sources such as documents, broadcast and social media, and key informant interviews to argue that the origins of the Amharas’ sense of victimization lie in good part in the replacement of centralized one-nation nationalism with a non-representative devolved system; having been left out during the institutionalization of the current political system, the Amhara now demand to be integrated into that system. The repercussions of Amhara nationalism have been visibly seen in the political dynamics of the Amhara region and the deadly conflict that Ethiopia faces after the war with the Tigray region that could attract neighboring countries and regional players to it. Hence, launching an inclusive peace settlement and designing a legitimate political system are necessary to mitigate the current political discontent.

South Africa's 30 years of post-apartheid democracy are replete with lessons in constructing a paradigm of covenantal pluralism out of the conduct of struggle against the injustice of apartheid, the management of the transition to democracy, and the imagination of a constitutional governance based on the finest values. In every seminal moment on this path there was a fluidity between the political, the societal, and the religious, which became the foundations first, of reconciliation and then of co-existence of historical antagonists. Such counter-instinctive behavior was germane to the African philosophy of human interdependence—Ubuntu—which was inscribed into the post-apartheid constitutional order as the glue for a fragmented society, and an antidote to populism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperatives, which abound in theoretical constructions, can be defined as associations of people who unite for a specific purpose and try to satisfy their economic needs through a democratically operated, jointly owned enterprise. However, it is an established fact that, by the end of the nineteenth century, industrial revolution and capitalism had brought many economic and social problems and manifold grave social challenges. This led to the further organizational development of self-help which, in turn, was an effective tool for shaping ethnic communities in the great trend of modernization and embourgeoisement. Self-help associations had a long tradition in the Habsburg Monarchy, including the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, already from the first half of the nineteenth century. However, especially in the last third of the nineteenth century, the development and consolidation of cooperative networks in this Central European region went hand in hand with ethnically based cooperative self-organization controlled from above by the agrarian elites. Cooperative centres were established, which performed not only economic and social, but also national policy-related tasks, at the same time gradually monopolizing some producer-supplier areas. Certain interpretations view cooperatives as important tools of small-state economic nationalism, relegating their economic goals to the background. Focusing on the period between 1898 and 1918, this study deals with the process and stages of development in the Hungarian cooperative system in Upper Hungary, whose solid foundations were laid from the late nineteenth century onwards. Relying on archival sources, it discusses the strategies of the two most significant cooperative centres, the Országos Központi Hitelszövetkezet (National Central Credit Cooperative) and Hangya (’Ant’). In the early twentieth century, these Hungarian attempts at integration coincided with the increasingly pronounced decentralization ideas of the Slovak cooperative elite.

Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the state has been struggling in nation-building efforts because of mainly ethnic differences in the country. This is most evident in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, which has been suffering from insurgency since the late 1950s. Being home to the Gwadar Port, there is a growing Baloch resistance to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) since 2015. This situation necessitates a thorough examination of how the locals view and have reacted to the CPEC. This research investigates Baloch reactions to the CPEC and how the federal and provincial governments as well as Beijing have tried to address these challenges. China's investment is seen by the Baloch as neo-colonialism—something they must fight at all costs. Therefore, the CPEC, and particularly projects like the Gwadar Port, have added to the locals' grievances against the state, reflected through an increasing number of terrorist attacks in Balochistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Becoming Catawba: Catawba Indian Women and Nation-Building, 1540-1840" explores the resilience and ingenuity of Catawba Indian women in preserving their identity and nation amidst European colonization and cultural changes. Through kinship, land control, and pottery production, Catawba women played a crucial role in maintaining their culture and land ownership. The article highlights the challenges faced by native peoples in the Southeast, emphasizing the importance of Catawba women in retaining their lands and cultural heritage. The author, Brooke M. Bauer, provides a detailed account of how Catawba women's efforts were instrumental in the survival of the Catawba nation. [Extracted from the article]

Using data from an original country-wide survey (N = 4,000) and series of in-depth interviews conducted across Kazakhstan in 2023, this paper explores respondents' perceptions of civic and ethnic identity and belonging in Kazakhstan's nation-building project. This article also serves as an enhanced follow-up study of an earlier survey-based project conducted in 2016 (N = 1,600) across Kazakhstan. Usage and cross-comparison of these comprehensive datasets collected in 2016 and 2023 will permit to trace changes and dynamics in the national identity perception in Kazakhstan and to assess the interplay between the civic nation-building policies of the Kazakhstani state and perceptions of ordinary Kazakhstanis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of Standard Arabic in nationalism and nation-building in the Mashriq and the Maghrib through two case studies, Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s and Morocco in the three decades after its independence in 1956. It explores the history and political significance of the modernisation and standardisation of the Arabic language and analyses Standard Arabic’s role in nationalism and nation-building in the Mashriq and the Maghrib in general and in Iraq and Morocco in particular. It argues that while both the Mashriq and the Maghrib saw a process of Arabisation, this process was a revival of Arabic in Iraq and the Mashriq and a reclamation of the language in Morocco and the Maghrib, and that while the Arabic language was used in the independence struggle and nation-building in both the Mashriq and the Maghrib, it was used as a symbol of Arab nationalism in Iraq and the Mashriq but as a symbol of Islam in Morocco and the Maghrib. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author examines the collisions of the Soviet nation-building which are actively debated in modern historiography. The source base for the research is the published materials, as well as the archival documents of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There are analyzed some specific historical subjects and the contribution of modern historiography to the understanding of the current problems and the formulation of new ideas and approaches to the analysis of the designated set of issues including the tools of Soviet socio-political engineering, the role and significance of ethnopolitical elites in the creation of the USSR as a complex hierarchical structure. It is concluded that the contradictions in the implementation of ethnonational policy were directly related to the formation of the Soviet federation, which became a concession to the ethnopolitical movements of the early XX century; and managing diversity was the central task of the state as an alternative to previous political systems for culturally complex societies.

This article examines the meaning of the ‘Flemish Day’ at the Brussels World Exhibition of 1958 for the formation of the Flemish nation. With this one-day festival pro-Flemish organisations contested the francophone character of the Expo, and francophone dominance in Belgian society. Its success announced the steep advance of the Flemish movement in the second half of the twentieth century. But how can we best interpret its impact on Flemish nation-building? The article analyses reactions on the Flemish Day in the Flemish press. Using six newspapers of diverse ideological strands it assesses support for Flemish emancipation. It thereby reveals a broad acceptance of the legitimacy of the Flemish Day, despite remarkable ideological differences. The discourse analysis supports the hypothesis that broadly shared interpretations of, and an almost unanimous identification with Flanders, provided the foundation for the mass spreading of Flemish consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s. Contributing empirical evidence to the study of nation-building in post-war Flanders, this article demonstrates the importance of media as mirrors and sources of national discourses.

The objective of this research was to study the perspectives of people in society towards gambling, in the era of nation building (Rama 6) from the novel Nirat Phai by Mr. Charoen. The results of the study found that Niraspai has content about persuading people in society to stop gambling by proceeding through the traditions of Nirat. It shows the penalties and dangers of gambling and conflict between people and the state. Chinese behavior and gambling and the ideology of nation building. There is also a mockery of Nirat by adopting a card name instead of her beloved lady, to make people see the importance of national development and building a nation to be unified.

This article empirically studies the Catalan Digital Republic, that is the set of practises, narratives, institutions, and infrastructures mobilised by a stateless nation to reposition itself in the international arena. The article has a two-sided objective. First, to analyse how nation branding and nation building strategies intersect with digital technologies and technopolitical narratives. Second, to examine how stateless nations are making use of such technologies and strategies in order to find their way in the international arena. To satisfy these objectives we have empirically studied the case of Catalonia, a stateless nation which in the last years has developed an ambitious technopolitical strategy rebranding itself as the southern European technological hub. To do so we have relied on a triangular methodological strategy combining (1) critical discourse analysis; (2) in-depth interviews with high-profile actors coming from the political, academic, and civil society landscape, and (3) a thorough documentary analysis. The first part of the article explores the concept of digital nation and its relationship with the notion of nation branding. In the second part of the text, we present the methodology and the objectives. We continue the paper by outlining the results of the interviewing process and the critical analysis of the findings. The article concludes with a critical recapitulation of the research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the complex process of nation-building in Moldova through a constructivist theoretical framework, focusing on the interplay between identity formation, language policies, and political integration efforts. Since gaining independence in 1991, Moldova has grappled with forging a cohesive national identity amidst competing historical narratives, linguistic tensions, and geopolitical pressures. The analysis explores how Moldovan national identity is socially constructed through ongoing negotiations between diverse ethnic, linguistic and regional groups, as well as external influences from Russia and the European Union. The process of nationbuilding in Moldova is further complicated by the country's historical legacy as a borderland between competing empires and ideologies. This has resulted in a multifaceted cultural landscape where Romanian, Russian, and distinctly Moldovan elements coexist and sometimes clash. The paper examines attempts to navigate these complexities. Language policy has emerged as a critical battleground in this process, with debates over the status of Romanian versus Moldovan language reflecting deeper tensions about national identity and geopolitical orientation.

"In the Shadow of War and Empire: Industrialisation, Nation-Building, and Working-Class Politics in Turkey" by Görkem Akgöz explores the history of industrialization in Turkey, focusing on the Bakırköy Factory and its impact on the early Republic's industrial landscape. The book delves into the macro-historical context of state-led industrialization in the 1930s, highlighting the diverse ethnic composition of the Ottoman workforce and the transition to a mixed economy characterized by protectionism. Akgöz also examines the daily lives, social interactions, and political activism of factory workers, challenging common assumptions about state workers in the 1930s and 1940s. Through a multi-scale approach, the author connects the messy everyday experiences of workers with major political and economic transformations in Turkey's history, providing fresh insights into industrialization dreams and processes. [Extracted from the article]

It seems obvious that that educational activity establishes conditions for the development of a person capable of combining ancestral traditions and values while maintaining their distinctive ethnoculture. This paper investigates how integrating ethnocultural material into English for Specific Purposes (ESP) university courses contributes to nation-building and students' identity development while at the same time exerting impact on ESP curriculum advancement. The empirical part of the research involved 104 first-year engineering students learning English as a foreign language for specific purposes. The experiment demonstrated that exposing students to regional material and enabling them to communicate in English about their region empowers them in their national and regional identity, while contributing to nation-building goals of university education. The findings of the study reveal that integrating ethnocultural material into ESP university courses positively impacts both students' motivation and their national identity development.

In May 2023, Reset Dialogues on Civilizations organized the international conference 'Nationalism, Nation-Building, and the Decline of Empires' in Dublin. The purpose was to gather a group of historians, political scientists, theorists, philosophers, and experts who could grasp the significant trends, over the long term, in nationalism, nation-building, and imperial issues and could create a forum for dialogue that would compare different, and in many ways related, contexts, defining the challenges of the contemporary politics in the international scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and politics are intertwined and prominent in human society. Religion interacts with politics and government consciously or unconsciously. The paper evaluates the problem of corrupt political leadership as the factor that impedes nation building in Nigeria. The study aims at demonstrating how religion could serve as a vital instrument towards restructuring Nigerian politics for nation building. Religion could act as a double-edged sword through its influence on politics, which could either enhance or impede nation building depending on its application. Using analytical and historical methods, the paper discovered that nation building could only be actualised through functional application of religion in Nigerian politics. Religion has the ability to unite and foster harmony, peaceful co-existence and effective governance that can engender nation building. The study recommends that political leaders should desist from politics of calumny, which portrays religion in bad light. In practicing politics in Nigeria, the political actors should focus on the positive aspects of religion and shun the negative features that portray it as agent of disunity. The paper concludes that God initiated politics; and it is His intention that committed religious adherents be involved in politics for good governance and nation building.

The scientific article is devoted to current issues - the study of the development of nation-building and the unique model of interethnic and interfaith relations in Kazakhstan.Aim. To propose a periodization of the main stages of transformational and socio-political processes of nation-building in the Republic of Kazakhstan, at each of which the corresponding regulatory legal acts of their legitimization were adopted.Tasks. To analyze the periods of development of nation-building, changes in the sphere of interethnic relations in the republic over the years of independence, in accordance with the constitutional reform approved in a popular referendum on June 5, 2022. Conduct a political analysis of the transformation into the socio-political practice of the fundamental principle of the Basic Law of the country — “public harmony” and in general in the regulation of interethnic relations.Methods. To substantiate the results of the study, a variety of scientific methods were used, reflecting the peculiarities of the development of national development. Taking into account the specifics of ethno-political and integration processes in the social and regional context, determining their nature, comparative analysis, prolegomens, communication platforms and social networks were used. The methods of crowdsourcing, forsyth, road map are widely used.Results. The management of ethno-professional processes is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of the functioning of the State and the tasks of society. The competent definition of problem areas allows for the development of preventive measures and the avoidance of both inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic tensions and the minimization of negative impact on the development of State and religious relations. The proposed recommendations will improve the mechanisms and tools of ethno-political management in State national policy, consolidate the model of social harmony and national unity in political documents and legislative practice.Conclusions. The effective Kazakh model of ethno-confessional harmony is based on two main components: popular representation as a reflection of the political integration of Kazakhstanis and coverage of the entire spectrum of legal ethnicities and confessions in socio-political processes. The creation and activities of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, during the years of independence, as a key socio-political structure in national politics, acts as an instrument of direct democracy and is, in fact, a people’s representation.

The legacy passed on from one generation to another has deep connections to a shared identity, a sense of belonging, and cultural heritage. Different types of architecture reflect cultural and societal changes, especially housing. In the UAE, housing has played an important role in nation-building efforts, with the Emirati villa, a space filled with intangible practices through which domestic cultural production and national identity can be read. Therefore, the transformation of domesticity has been instrumental in the process of rapid Emiratisation and nation-building. This article discusses the tangible and intangible aspects of domesticity and hospitality found in the Emirati villa using conventional architectural analysis and live experience studies. By presenting what guides and informs domestic practices, one can read the interior space as a series of spatial qualities. It asks: How have Emirati homes become a means to create and preserve shared social practices? This aims to reveal how social practices, such as hospitality, are spatialised in Emirati homes, capturing everyday life and social norms. The article argues for the recognition of domestic cultural transformations as a valuable contribution to Emirati national identity over the last 50 years of nation-building.

Turkey, in direct lineage of the Ottoman Empire, experimented a particularly violent nation-building out of the imperial ashes. Non-Muslims corresponding to one fifth of its population have been annihilated for the creation of a homogeneous nation State. These crimes have never been accounted for, giving way to a culture of impunity, self-righteousness, contempt for the rule of law and justice which, over years, pushed the polity towards an illiberal if not totalitarian essence and praxis, domestically against its own constituency and externally against neighbours through an extensive neo-imperial drive. Paradoxically, such an outcome seems to constitute a belated retribution for the unaccounted crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue examines the increase in scale and intensity of merit-based (im)migration policies as a means to revive aging populations and boost national economies in countries around the world. It proposes the idea of 'middle class nation building through immigration' to characterize this phenomenon, to relate it to previous versions of nation building and (im)migration policies, and to highlight the puzzle of middle class (im)migration at times of increasing socio-political polarization in receiving societies. In this foundational introduction, I define the three concepts at stake, situate them within their respective bodies of literature, and address the following three questions: How to characterize the type of nation building at stake in today's democracies? Who gets to belong to the new educated middle class? Can we still speak of immigration or do we, instead, observe an end of settlement policies? This allows me to sketch-out the contours of 'middle class nation building through immigration' as an ideal-type: a heuristic theoretical construct (not to be found empirically in its pure form) that kindles our imagination, allows us to examine empirical cases, and invites debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation-building, governance, security and national development are inextricably linked social issues. Failure to effectively midwife any of these concepts has the tendency to jeopardise efforts aimed at achieving nation-building. Over time, Nigeria's quest for nation-building has been impeded by the centrifugal forces of political, economic, food and health insecurity. These elements have made the task of nation-building a mirage in Nigeria as these centrifugal forces continue to deepen the fragmented Nigerian society. It is against this backdrop that this article examines nation-building as a herculean task whose success rests heavily on pragmatic approaches to sustainable governance, security and national development. The article notes that nations are built by men and women who have the will and vision to accomplish greatness, not for themselves and their immediate families and friends, but for their country. Observably, the lack of this will and vision, encapsulated in leadership deficiencies, continues to haunt nation-building efforts in Nigeria. Anchored on integration theory as a framework of analysis and descriptive research methodology, data for the article were gathered through secondary sources including journal articles, books and internet materials and content- analysed. The article makes useful recommendations on devising useful strategies for resolving the challenges to security, governance and development issues in Nigeria through a reformed leadership recruitment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the rise of spy films in contemporary Hindi cinema and their depiction of masculinity and nation-building. It focuses on the film "War" (2019) as an example of how these films promote and sustain hegemonic masculinity and shape perceptions of heroism. The article argues that spy films exaggerate nationalism and masculinity, deviating from reality. It also criticizes the limited opportunities for women to showcase their capabilities and calls for more equitable representations that acknowledge women's contributions to nation-building. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for more authentic and realistic portrayals of espionage in Hindi cinema. [Extracted from the article]