284 Book review section – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 70 (2021) (3) 281–289.DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.70.3.7 Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 70 2021 (3) The discussion over nationalism has come of age but has not run its full course yet. Despite the vast volume of former and contemporary literature on national- ism, the narrative discourse around it continues to this day. While recent studies reveal new faces of the idea and the social movement, old debates re- emerge again. Among these discussions, Grounded Nationalisms seems to be a milestone. It is a grandi- ose concept that seeks to give nationalism studies a unique, comprehensive theoretical framework, while offering an opportunity to integrate former, often contradictory theories. The author’s fundamental approach to the contemporary role of nationalism is denying the idea that the age of nationalisms is slowly coming to an end under the pressure of the postmodern, globalised world. On the contrary, he argues that this phenomenon is getting stronger even if it is subsided or not always dramatic. In a nutshell, Maleševic tries to explain that although nationalism stems from the modern era, it has roots in the Middle Ages. Furthermore, it has been constantly ubiquitous and adapts perfectly to the incessantly altering social- political circumstances, so those who predict its de- cline are greatly mistaken. The theoretical framework which supports his argumentation is based on the author’s previous works and provides a solid basis for his interpretation. Although Maleševic is not a geographer, national narratives have substantial territorial aspects, and geopolitics, area studies and the geography of belongings are also closely linked to the discourse of nationalism. Siniša Maleševic is an Irish researcher originally from Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). He lives in Ireland and is a full professor of sociology at the University College Dublin. His previous work on the subject may also have contributed to the fact that Grounded Nationalisms has been awarded a runner-up (honourable mention) in the 2020 Stein Rokkan Award for Comparative Social Science Research. Maleševic’s 312-page book consists of 11 chapters apart from the Introduction and Conclusion. Each chapter also stands as an independent reading, as some of the author’s previous works appear here in a revised form. ‘Grounded nationalisms’ is the answer to the ques- tions of why nationalism is so enduring in the modern era, why it is present at all levels of society, and why it is able to constantly innovate. The author’s com- pact explanation is that because nationalism is histori- cally, organisationally and ideologically grounded as well as micro-interactionally. ‘Historically’ means that where it appears, it will be strengthened and be- come dominant at all levels of society. However, this was not a quick process, but it took a long time for becoming a prevailing operational ideology through- out history. Achieving national unity, as it happened in the 19th and 20th centuries throughout the world, required strong organisational power. This was of- ten exercised through coercive measures, so national movements became ‘organisationally grounded’ and have remained like that to this day. All of this could have come hard without a strong and popular ideological foundation, such as ‘collective liberation’ and ‘emancipation,’ as it proclaimed equality for all who belonged to the nation. Furthermore, the mod- ern nation-state also lives in a continuous process of ideologisation and gives a national interpretation to a vast majority of social realities, therefore, ‘ideo- logically grounded.’ Lastly, nationalism also plays a powerful role in everyday practices, as nationhood is discursively constructed through daily routines, so it is ‘micro-interactionally grounded.’ The above men- tioned four notions of nationalism constitute the con- ceptual foundation of Maleševic’s complex theory. The main aim of the book is to show that “success- ful nationalist projects are premised on the organisa- tional translation of ideological grand narratives into Malešević, S.: Grounded Nationalisms: A Sociological Analysis. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019. 312 p 285Book review section – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 70 (2021) (3) 281–289. the micro, family and friendship-based, stories” (p. 14), in addition to “how grounded nationalisms develop, operate and expand” (p. 15). Furthermore, Maleševic focuses on “the organisational, ideological, and micro- interactive underpinnings of nationalisms” (p. 15). Although the author and the publisher have not di- vided the book into larger parts, three major sections can be revealed. In the first part (the first three chap- ters), Maleševic discusses his own theory in detail and compares it with other approaches, explanations and interpretations of nationalism. The second part (Chapters 4–5, and also Chapters 10–11) discusses some significant theoretical issues illustrated by particular examples from the Balkans, but also from other areas in Europe and beyond. In the third part (Chapters 6–9), he explores the regions or countries that have been scrutinised by him in his previous works as well, such as Ireland, Serbia, Bulgaria, pre- senting these national contexts within the theoretical framework outlined earlier. The first chapter provides a detailed description and explanation of the author’s complex theory. Firstly, he examines nationalism as an ideology. Regarding the widely accepted theory that national- ism is fundamentally a product of modernism, the author, although not denying it completely, takes the view that nationalist ideologies are deeply rooted in the past, which contributed greatly to the success of ideological penetration. In this respect, he contradicts Gellner’s ‘Big Ditch’ thesis and Polanyi’s ‘Great Transformation’ hypothesis (Hann, C. 2015), which clearly contrast modernism with the ages that pre- ceded it. Maleševic, on the other hand, also describes a significant difference between the modern and the Middle Ages. He points out that the legitimacy of power had divine origin in the past, whereas it is granted by popular sovereignty in modern nation- states. Amplifying the conceptual basis, he does not elude thorny questions, such as the priority of the nation or the state. In this ‘the chicken or the egg causality dilemma’ of whether the nation-state was first or the nation, he clearly takes the position that the state created the nation. Thus, those empires, kingdoms, and principalities were transformed into a nation-state where a national community could emerge. The further chapters of the book also show in detail that even without gradual transition, for in- stance, where transformations were initiated by wars or revolutions, the process led to the formation of the nation-state likewise. In fact, he argues that the social organisations and structures are a prerequisite for establishing the nation-state. All of this, however, required a strong and pervasive ideology that perme- ated all levels of society, a process Maleševic calls ‘centrifugal ideologization’. Turning to social structures and national identity, Maleševic indicates that, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, national structures were often strengthened between violent and bloody events. He calls this ‘co- ercive organisational power,’ but he means not only physical violence, but also structural. According to the author, nation-states, through their strong legitimacy and enormous organisational and coercive capacity, are able to interpret social reality in a special way, creating the image of ‘national identity’. Maleševic considers this to be valid to this day, as most social organisations are overseen or run by the nation-state. Furthermore, it can be underpinned by the experience that people’s lifecycle is supported and dependent on the nation-state from birth to death. This nation- centric worldview would not be maintained without everyday practices which notion was elaborated first in Michael Billig’s Banal Nationalism (Billig, M. 1995). Billig is highly cited in Grounded Nationalisms, but Maleševic goes beyond Billig’s notion and argues that the phenomenon he calls ‘micro-solidarity,’ which constructs national identity through everyday face-to-face relationships, needs to have strong organ- isational background as well. In the second chapter, the author tries to reconcile the theories implying, on the one hand, that nation- alism can be traced back to the Middle Ages or even earlier historical times, and on the other, that it is a completely new phenomenon. Maleševic explains with the help of the concept of longue durée, which deems nationalism as a long-term creative process, and argues that the two aforementioned theoretical approaches are not mutually exclusive. However, in contrast to longue durée theories, which focus too much on countries, he suggests concentrating on or- ganisations, and highlights strong religious, impe- rial, and other organisations that had strengthened in the Middle Ages and played an extremely important role in building the nation-states later. The Balkans appear in several chapters of the book, perhaps not regardless of the author’s provenance. One of the most astonishing findings is that despite the popular belief, Balkan ‘national movements’ in the first half of the 19th century, such as the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813), were not ‘national’ at all. For example, the Serbian Uprising much more has to be considered as social rebellion against the renegade Janissary of- ficers of the Ottoman Empire. Maleševic argues that the vast majority of Serbian society at the time was not at all receptive to nationalist ideals and the Sanjak of Smederevo, where most of the Serbs lived, was lacking in institutions, such as national administra- tion, education system or intellectual life that could have provided the basis for the creation of a nation- state. The uprisings of the early 1800s in the Balkans can be seen as a superimposition of geopolitical games of surrounding empires and dissatisfactions with local rulers rather than ‘national’ movements. On the other hand, the organisational power of the Orthodox Church, which operated under Ottoman rule, contributed a lot to the creation of the nation- 286 Book review section – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 70 (2021) (3) 281–289. state, which, in addition to intensive religious life, also operated schools and played a major role in the organisation of everyday life. The book provides similar curiosities from Bulgaria, Greece and Ireland. Moreover, in a separate chapter, Maleševic analyses the problem of ‘small nation’ and compares nationalisms in Ireland and Serbia, two nations with small areas and populations. He tries to explore the reasons why in one context the adjective ‘small’ carries positive connotations, while in the other, it is being seen as a national tragedy and the greatness of the glorious past is being idolised in national narratives. Whereas the successful eco- nomic integration of Ireland is characterised by the ‘Celtic Tiger’ metaphor, Serbia is rather constructing an imperial past covering a large geographical area in the Middle Ages in contrast to the contemporary small one. These approaches are also well known in the countries of the Carpathian Basin. Behind the metaphors of the ‘Tatra Tiger’ in Slovakia or the ‘Pannonian Puma’ in Hungary (Pogátsa, Z. 2009; Kaneva, N. 2012), there is a belief in success, while the glorification of the past is also a characteristic of these countries. Finally, Maleševic provides in his volume an analysis of the connections between glo- balisation and nationalist subjectivities as well as a study about the relations between grounded national- isms and the privatisation of security. Still, the book, while examining nationalism from various angles, also has some shortcomings. The most striking example are repetitions, which stem from the fact that the author used his earlier works while com- piling and writing the current title. Besides, although it is true that the Maleševic investigates a significant number of theories, which makes the book exciting, the author cannot present all theories in their com- pleteness. Thus, in some cases, for example, the theo- ries of Giddens, Beck or Baumann are presented in an oversimplified way, so it is unchallenging to make counter-arguments against them. In addition, certain theories are left out of the discussion, such as post- nationalism and transnationalism, but the most pain- ful lack is that of regionalism. Maleševic’s attention is avoided by regions of nation-states (see Antonsich, M. 2009 for more details) as well as ethnic-national minorities (e.g. Catalans, Silesians, and Kurds) along with their willingness to exist within (or outside) the nation-state. The writer attaches enormous impor- tance to “emancipatory, egalitarian and fraternal mes- sages” (p. 277) of nationalism, but the perspectives of minorities related to this nation-centric, dominant sense remains unstudied. Thus, he may have a blind spot when it comes to national minorities. In spite of these shortcomings, the theoretical framework outlined by the author is not only com- plex but also well applicable because it makes na- tionalisms universally comparable, whereas it avoids relativism and particularism. With the assistance of this theory, individual phenomena and processes can be explained, since it provides a utilitarian conceptual scaffold for them. The author emphasises that “the strength of nationalism resides in its ground-ness, the well-entrenched and firmly embedded nation- alisms are generally less visible to the naked eye… Once fully grounded, nationalism becomes second nature, a set of largely unquestioned beliefs and so- cial practices that underpins equally the institutional dynamics and everyday life of ordinary individuals in the contemporary world” (p. 279). Therefore, the book is recommended for reading to all those who are interested in the history and contemporary processes of nation-states and nationalism. It is especially valu- able for historians, social scientists, and geographers, and also for those who wish to gain a profound in- sight into contemporary social phenomena related to nationalism. Acknowledegment: Research for this publication has been made in the project “After the Post-Soviet Period: A Geographical Analysis of Social Processes within the Shifting Eastern European Buffer Zone” (K-124291) with the support of the National Research, Development, and Innovation Office (NRDIO). Géza Barta1 R E F E R E N C E S Antonsich, M. 2009. On territory, the nation-state and the crisis of the hyphen. Progress in Human Geography 33. (6): 789–806. Billig, M. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London–Thousand Oaks–New Delhi, SAGE. Hann, C. 2015. After ideocracy and civil society: Gellner, Polanyi and the new peripheralization of Central Europe. Thesis Eleven 128. (1): 41–55. Kaneva, N. ed. 2012. Branding Post-Communist Nations. Abingdon–New York, Routledge. Pogátsa, Z. 2009. Tatra tiger growth miracle or belated recovery? Acta Oeconomica 59. (4): 377–390. 1 ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Department of Social and Economic Geography, Budapest, Hungary. E-mail: gezabarta@gmail.com