One of the most provocative ideas in Slezkine’s book is that the nation-state is modeled on a Jewish community. It’s built out of alienated individuals who are attached to a larger group most of whose members they’ll never meet. It endows itself with ancient origins that are often entirely invented. The nation always sees itself as the Chosen people with a historic mission. It consecrates a bunch of national figures, writers, thinkers, etc whose existence proves that the nation is great. It also venerates a special way of eating that is specifically of the nation and is a source of pride and attachment that distinguishes its practicioners from everybody else. The fourth estate is crucial to the nation-state as are the professions that define the intellectual and the literary canon, and these are the most Jewish of all professions after bankers.
I thought I’ve heard every possible theory of nationalism but this one is new to me. The book was written in 2004, and I’d love to hear the author’s theory of the collapse of the nation-state model.
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