After decades of unprecedented development in both nationalisms and nationalism studies, nationalists surprisingly have many more reasons to be satisfied than researchers.
While nations and nationalism flourish, scholars seem analytically more and more confused. Although there are more articles, books, and journals on nations and nationalism than ever before, there is a growing sense of disappointment in the field. Looking at the subject’s literature from the last quarter century, one could get the impression that researchers have been going in circles, referring to the same names, using the same examples. The crisis must indeed be serious, since one of the most eminent sociologists of nations claims that the sociology of nations does not exist (Szacki 2004: 13).
The disillusionment is so deep that the most influential scholars repeat that we have not moved far beyond conclusions known fifty years ago (Connor 2004) and the discipline itself got stuck between contemporary scientific fads and common-sense theories (Brubaker & Cooper 2000: 11).
