Nationalism and violence : a mechanistic explanation. With special reference to the theories of Charles Tilly and Michael Mann

Resumo

At first glance, the existence of a strong relationship between nationalism and violence seems evident. This article aims to show that in fact there is no direct relationship between the two. No one doubts that nationalism and violence often coincide, but nationalism does not cause violence. The analysis begins by identifying a set of fallacies - semantic, normative, individualistic, and essentialist - that often accompany the study of nationalism in general. In a second moment, a reconceptualization of nationalism is proposed, presenting an ontology of the national and a methodology to study it. In particular, this article adopts an explanatory approach based on causal mechanisms, where specific nationalizing mechanisms are examined together with socio-psychological and political mechanisms. It is argued that the fundamental causal mechanisms that connect nationalism with violence are political mechanisms. This argument is supported by the work of Charles Tilly on violence and that of Michael Mann on genocide and ethnic cleansing.