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The exportation of the European idea of the Nation-State to Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
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Abstract

The assumption is that a nation is a people, a group of people, or a historic concentration of people, giving a political system acceptable to the whole, that is to say, grosso modo, democratic. It is shown that this process is analogous, although greatly contrasted in detail, between Africa and Europe. The differences lie in three contrasting times of evolution which accentuate the risk of crises from contradictory sources: the building of a state, the life of ethnic groups and national ideologies. These three aspects are analysed and placed in the context of historical evolution within different areas and recent writings on this subject.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 55 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1997

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