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Specter of Nationalism Haunts Eastern Europe
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17552 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1990 |
2,386 Words |
| Author
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Robert R. King
Robert R. King, the author of Minorities Under Communism:
Nationalities as a Source of Tension Among Balkan Communist
States (Harvard University Press, 1973), worked in East
European affairs at the National Security Council in the
Carter White House. He is former assistant director of
research at Radio Free Europe in Munich, West Germany, and
currently works on Capital Hill. |
In 1848, as revolutionary fervor swept across Europe from Paris to Budapest and beyond, the young Karl Marx wrote in his Communist Manifesto, "A specter is haunting Europe-the specter of communism," Now, almost a century and a half after Marx penned those words, another specter is haunting Europe - and particularly the half of Europe that for the last half century was dominated by the communism Marx inspired. The specter is nationalism.
For Americans, nationality is synonymous with citizenship. Territory defines nationality. Generally, immigrants to America become Americans, although some maintain ties with their roots by identifying themselves as Polish-Americans, Hungarian-Americans, Lithuanian-Americans, or other combinations. For the most part, this conception of nationality held for Western Europe as well.
In Central and Eastern Europe, however, ethnic identity does not match state boundaries. As national identity developed in the 19th century, the Russian, Prussian (and later German), Austrian, and Turkish empires encompassed numerous peoples separated by culture, religion, language, and tradition. At the same time German, Polish, and Italian language/cultural populations were ruled by separate governments. In areas that had been under Turkish rule since the 15th century-the Balkans (Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria) and large areas of the Soviet Union-religion came to be a major determinant of nationality. The Turkish sultans separated their subjects, regardless of where they happened to live, into religious communities (millets), and the appropriate religious leaders were responsible for regulating most aspects of communal life.
In Yugoslavia, religious tradition is still the key element in nationality. The major difference between Serbs and Croats (the two largest nationalities) is religion. Both speak essentially the same language, but Serbs are Eastern Orthodox by tradition and culture while Croats are Roman Catholic. Another major ethnic group comprises the Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims, who call themselves Muslim and do not consider themselves Serbian or Croatian. Perhaps the most extreme and tragic example of this legacy of Ottoman rule is the bitter fragmentation of Lebanon along religious lines.
As a result of World War I, the defeated multinational empires were divided into separate states, with some attempt to establish boundaries along ethnic lines. The effort was not totally successful since some important areas-Transylvania, now in Romania, and the Vojvodina region of
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