Political Theory

This is a very useful book in the way that all the authors stress the importance of a sense of territoriality to ethnic and national identities. In the revised edition of his classic work, Imagined Communities, (1991) Benedict Anderson shows how the conceptualization of the modern nation is impossible without the representations of cartographers. A perennial form of question in TV quiz shows is to show contestants the outline of an un-named national territory. The very asking of the question testifies to the ‘naturalness’ of state boundaries. Topograpahical representations of the territory are central to imagining both the nation and the state. Now, this is crucial because the representation of the nation may not correspond to that of the state as many Basques, Kurds, northern Irish, Quebecois, Sami or Tamils will testify. The maps of these groups, the representations of their territory, are obviously contested by and in conflict with the ‘official’ logoization of the national territory. The ‘nation’ is never given but always contested, and the contest is always about territory. From an Irish perspective the idea that territory is central to national and ethnic identity is axiomatic, indeed Steve Bruce (1994) argues the basis of the conflict in Ireland is land. And, as the authors in this book consistently and persuasively argue, control of the land is about more than the control of material resources. The ethno-national identity of nationalists and unionists is inscribed in physical territory. The boundary markers; flags, murals, painted kerbstones are the material manifestations of, and reinforcing of, the cognitive relationship that is the imagined ethnic/national community. The worth of this book is to show the efficacy of territoriality as perhaps the central theme in ethnic and national identities. I would recommend it unreservedly.