The theoretical problem is to separate the quite spurious ‘national’ and ‘natural’ justifications and explanations of nationalism, from the genuine, time- and context-bound roots of it. (Ernest Gellner, Thought and Change)
Nationalism, so far the most potent principle of political legitimacy in the modern world, holds that the nation should be collectively and freely institutionally expressed, and ruled by its conationals. In numerous essays and four books, Ernest Gellner, an exceptionally brilliant, fluent, prolific and witty philosopher, anthropologist, sociologist and multilingual polymath provided lucid and persuasive accounts of why nationalism is a necessary component of modernity, and why it is its typical and major principle of political legitimacy. This chapter seeks to provide a preliminary posthumous analysis of Gellner’s legacy. It needs little justification since all worthwhile subsequent writing and research on nationalism will benefit from Gellner’s work, whether they build on his presumptions or dissent from them.
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