Regionalism and National Identity (Analysis of Regional Structures in American Political Development): Analysis of Regional Structures in American Political Development

Author: Ren Junfeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: For the common form of modern regional communities—political nations—due to the varying distribution structures of natural environments, resource endowments, and socio-historical-cultural factors across different regions within a country, significant imbalances emerge in regional development. This poses a severe challenge to modern nations, especially late-developing countries with vast territorial spaces, in maintaining the cohesion of their communities. Examples include the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, the independence movement in Quebec, Canada, the Kosovo crisis, and the prolonged peace process in Northern Ireland. In the "post-Cold War" era, nation-state communities not only face "internal scrutiny" from their constituent elements but also encounter a "punch" from the wave of "globalization." For modern nations, must the continued existence of nation-state communities be predicated on the homogeneity of race or culture among the people living within them? Can racial and cultural homogeneity overcome the centrifugal tendencies arising from uneven regional development? Can modern nations be established on the foundation of communities composed of diverse ethnic groups? Based on this "problem awareness," this book attempts to use the case of the construction of the American nation-state community to explore the methods and approaches through which modern nation-state communities foster internal public identification.