Nationalism and Geography

Nationalism has proved to be one of the most powerful ideologies of the past two centuries and is certainly the most geographical one. Political claims based on national identities generally involve strong territorial claims and strategies. Geographical features are important to nationalist ideologies, and different types of nationalism, including state nationalism and bottom‐up nationalism (mobilizing against the existing state), may have different relationships to the geography of the territory they claim. Geographers have been directly and indirectly instrumental in nationalist projects: some have been nationalist activists while others have provided geographical expertise in negotiations in nationalist struggles. Geographers – as other social scientists – have contributed to the naturalization of nationalist ideologies through methodological nationalism. There is a rich literature of geographical approaches to nationalism that has explored its many facets, especially through case studies.