The established theories and debates on nationalism were formed in the twin crucibles of Eighteenth-century Europe and America, and continue to be informed by that heritage. Reconstructing the Nation in Africa challenges some of the key principles that underlie the current debates on nationalism by exploring in depth the experience of multinational states in Africa. Taking Ghana as a case study, Michael Amoah introduces and develops two important new contributions to the theoretical tapestry of nationalism--the "Rationalisation of Nationalism" and "Reconstructing the Nation," concepts that should have wide use and currency in the broader discussion of the national phenomenon. Reconstructing the Nation in Africa argues that the nationhood of Ghana is not rooted in modernity as is generally thought, and attempts to show by analysis of the microbehavior of its population that traditional views on the viability of the multinational state do not necessarily hold true for modern-day Africa.

Gerard Delanty and Krishan Kumar, The SAGE Handbook of Nations and Nationalism.  London: SAGE Publications, 2006.  ISBN: 9781412901017.  List Price: $130.00

Nationalism has long excited debate in political, social, and cultural theory and remains a key field of enquiry among historians, anthropologists, sociologists, as well as political scientists. It is also one of the critical media issues of our time. There are, however, surprisingly few volumes that bring together the best of this intellectual diversity into one collection.

The SAGE Handbook of Nations and Nationalism gives readers a critical survey of the latest theories and debates and provides a glimpse of the issues that will shape their future. Its three sections guide the reader through the theoretical approaches to this field of study, its major themes – from modernity to memory, migration and genocide – and the diversity of nationalisms found around the globe.

The overall aim of this Handbook is to relate theories and debates within and across a range of disciplines, illuminate themes and issues of central importance in both historical and contemporary contexts, and show how nationalism has impacted upon and interacted with other political and social forms and forces. This book will provide a much-needed resource for scholars in international relations, political science, social theory, and sociology.

Paul W. James, Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In.  London: SAGE Publications, 2006.  ISBN: 9780761955139.  List Price: $125.00.  ISBN: 9780761955146.  List Price: $41.95 (Paper)

Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism establishes a new basis for understanding the changing nature of polity and community and offers unprecedented attention to these dominant trends. Paul James charts the contradictions and tensions we all encounter in an era of increasing globalization, from genocide and terrorism to television and finance capital.

Globalism is treated as an uneven and layered process of spatial expansion, not simply one of disorder, fragmentation or rupture. Nor is it simply a force of homogenization.

Nationalism is taken seriously as a continuing and important formation of contemporary identity and politics. James rewrites the modernism theories of the nation-state without devolving into the postmodernist assertion that all is invention or surface gloss.

Tribalism is given the attention it has long warranted and is analyzed as a continuing and changing formation of social life, from the villages of Rwanda to the cities of the West.

Theoretically adept and powerfully argued, this is the first comprehensive analysis that brings these crucial themes of contemporary life together.

Rogers Brubaker, Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN: 13: 978-0-674-01539-5. List Price: $47.50 (Hardcover); ISBN: 13: 978-0-674-02231-7. List Price: $22.95 (Paperback).

Despite a quarter-century of constructivist theorizing in the social sciences and humanities, ethnic groups continue to be conceived as entities and cast as actors. Journalists, policymakers, and researchers routinely frame accounts of ethnic, racial, and national conflict as the struggles of internally homogeneous, externally bounded ethnic groups, races, and nations. In doing so, they unwittingly adopt the language of participants in such struggles, and contribute to the reification of ethnic groups. The essays in this volume challenge this pervasive and commonsense "groupism." But they do not simply revert to standard constructivist tropes about the fluidity and multiplicity of identity. Once a bracing challenge to the conventional wisdom, constructivism has grown complacent, even clichéd. That ethnicity is constructed is commonplace; this volume provides new insights into how it is constructed. By shifting the analytical focus from identity to identifications, from groups as entities to group-making projects, from shared culture to categorization and classification, from substances to processes, this book shows that ethnicity, race, and nation are not things in the world but perspectives on the world: ways of seeing, interpreting, and representing the social world.