Ethnonationalsim In American States

The question this article is trying to explain is what effects has ethnonationalsim had, not only in European states, but also how it has influenced nationalistic views in other states. Throughout the article Muller explains of how ethnonationalsim is perceived to be by different states such as the United States and several European states. The author’s primary argument is that ethnonationalsim, although at times gruesome, was crucial to the formation and continuation of states.
Muller starts the discussion of ethnonationalsim by explaining how most immigrants in the United States reshape themselves to conform to their new country’s ways. He goes on to say how this was not the case for many states in Europe. Muller then clarifies how nationalism, …show more content…
Since Muller is a history professor, it is only fitting that he gives several examples. He uses sociologist Ernest Geller’s view of ethnonationalsim to begin a history lesson as to how ethnonationalsim pulled many states into the modern era. Muller goes on to give examples of states that were separated by language, religion and ethnic background and were able to use ethnonationalsim to their advantage to pull themselves forward to define who they were as a state. This evidence was more than sufficient because it incorperated quite a number of states that used this tactic to demand their own state, such as Serbia and Croatia from …show more content…
In the case of Us and Them, minorities could have a large number of people in the state and even have ties to the land, but they will have limited rights and often be suppressed by another group.
Something I liked about the article was that Muller gave specific cases of states that used ethnonationalsim to their advantage and states that used it to create their own states independent and ethnically defined. One I particularly focused on was Yugoslavia. I am currently a part of a study abroad trip to Bosnia and Serbia and have been required to learn about the conflicts before I go this summer. To me, it was interesting to read that Croatia did an ethnic cleansing of Serbs. What my study abroad trip will focus on will be if there is truly peace within the past Yugoslavia states after their breakup.
I also enjoyed how the article was written. Muller not only gave the United State’s perspective on ethnonationalsim, but also the perspective that many European states had. By doing this I was able to contrast the differences in culture and what was deemed socially acceptable. I had never heard of ethnonationalism before this reading and was amazed by the number of states that used this. I was surprised because I was not aware of many of the states mentioned in the article suppressing minority groups or as defining their state based on an