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The Growth of Nations: Some Recurrent Patterns of Political and Social Integration*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Karl W. Deutsch
Karl W. Deutsch
Affiliation:
Princeton University
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Extract

At many places and times, tribes have merged to form peoples; and peoples have grown into nations. Some nations founded empires; and empires have broken up again into fragments whose populations later attempted again to form larger units. In certain respects, this sequence appears to describe a general process found in much of history. This process shows a number of patterns which seem to recur, and which to a limited extent seem to be comparable among different regions, periods, and cultures.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , January 1953 , pp. 168 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1953

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References

1 The alternative views that all history is random, or that all important historical events are unique, involve grave philosophic difficulties. Historians who criticize the search for certain historical uniformities by their colleagues use in effect other uniformities which they prefer. Similar considerations apply to much of the debate about uniformities in other fields of social science. All knowledge involves the matching of patterns, and thus requires at least some similarities between some aspects of the events or processes studied. It thus requires some degree of relative uniformity among the processes to be investigated, in order to enable each science to proceed beyond the relatively simple and the relatively uniform to the recognition and study of those situations which are relatively complex and unique. Simplicity and uniformity, in this view, are not sweeping metaphysical assumptions about all aspects of all processes. They are properties of those aspects of processes which were first selected for investigation, or first investigated with success. With the growth of each science, this concern with the simple and the uniform reveals itself as a steppingstone to the study of more difficult matters. Cf. Pledge, H. T., Science Since 1500, New York, 1947Google Scholar, which supersedes, in this respect, the view of Burtt, E. A., The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, London, 1932Google Scholar, and Randall, J. H. Jr, The Making of the Modern Mind, 2nd ed., Boston, 1940, pp. 227–29.Google Scholar

2 Cf. Deutsch, K. W., Nationalism and Social Communication, Cambridge, Mass., New York, 1953Google Scholar (in press).

3 Ibid.; and “Nationalism and the Social Scientists,” in Bryson, L., et al., eds., Foundations of World Organization: A Political and Cultural Appraisal, New York, 1952, pp. 9–20, 447–68.Google Scholar On recent studies in this field, cf. Deutsch, K. W., An Interdisciplinary Bibliography on Nationalism, 1935–1951, Boston, 1953Google Scholar (in press).

4 A Study of History, London, 1939, iv, pp. 2–3.

5 For examples of such limited assimilation during and after the expanding phase of certain civilizations or universal states, see ibid., Vols. I–VI, passim, and the appendix on “Lingue Franche” in Vol. V, pp. 483–526. Cf. also Woolner, A. C., Languages in History and Politics, London, 1938Google Scholar; and Innis, H. A., Empire and Communication, Oxford, 1950Google Scholar, and The Bias of Communications, Toronto, 1952. On particular languages, see Woolner, , op.cit., pp. 109–48, 156–67Google Scholar; Gibb, H. A. R., The Arabs, Oxford, 1940Google Scholar; Antonius, George, The Arab Awakening, Philadelphia, 1939, p. 16Google Scholar; Hitti, P. K., History of Syria Including Lebanon and Palestine, New York, 1951, pp. 483–89.Google Scholar

6 Cf. Royal Institute of International Affairs, Nationalism, London, 1939, p. 9Google Scholar; Usher, A. P., Economic History of England, Boston, 1920, pp. 20–21.Google Scholar

7 For a discussion of the chances of linguistic disintegration following upon the dissolution of a universal empire, see Pidal, Ramón Menéndez, Castilla, la tradición, el idioma, Buenos Aires, 1945, pp. 191–94.Google Scholar

8 For the Graeco-Roman and medieval civilizations, this point has been stressed by Childe, Gordon, What Happened in History, Harmondsworth, Eng., Penguin Books, 1950, pp. 279–82.Google Scholar

9 Toynbee, , op.cit., v, p. 79Google Scholar, and passim.

10 A Conference on Feudalism was held on October 31 and November 1, 1950, at Princeton University under the auspices of the Committee on Uniformities of the American Council of Learned Societies. For the point made in the text, see the papers submitted to the Conference and the abridged report on its proceedings issued by the Council (Washington, D.C., multigraphed). A volume on Feudalism in History, containing these papers, with an analytical essay by the editor, Professor Rushton Coulborn, is in process of publication.

11 Cf. Wiskemann, Elizabeth, Czechs and Germans, London, 1938Google Scholar; Purcell, Victor, The Chinese in Malaya, London, 1948Google Scholar; Emerson, Rupert, Mills, L. A., and Thompson, V., Government and Nationalism in Southeast Asia, New York, 1942Google Scholar; etc.

12 “By the end of the [eighteenth] century many village notables (knez) began to come into contact as hog exporters with foreign lands, especially with the supply services of the Austrian armies. Among this class the leaders of the Serbian uprising of 1804 were found … [who] started the movement for Serbian independence and beyond that for Southern Slav unification …” (Kohn, Hans, The Idea of Nationalism, New York, 1944, p. 549).Google Scholar Cf. also Mladenov, S., Die Geschichte der Bulgarischen Sprache, Berlin, 1929Google Scholar; Fischel, Alfred, Der Panslawismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart, 1919Google Scholar; etc. For some general social and political aspects of the shift to an exchange economy, see Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation, New York, 1944.Google Scholar

13 For core areas and population clusters, see Whittlesey, D., The Earth and the State, New York, 1939, pp. 11–12Google Scholar, 142–52; and James, Preston, Latin America, New York, 1942, pp. 4–8.Google Scholar For the nodal location of London, see SirMackinder, Haiford, Britain and the British Seas, New York, 1902.Google Scholar

14 Whittlesey, op.cit., pp. 138–39, 151. Cf. Wartburg, W. Von, Evolution et structure de la langue française, Leipzig, 1934, and Les origines des peuples romans, Paris, 1941.Google Scholar

15 This is illustrated by the divergent views of such writers as Whittlesey, , op.cit., pp. 166–70Google Scholar; Nadler, Josef, Das stammhafte Gefüge des deutschen Volkes, Munich, 1934, pp. 104–9Google Scholar; Frings, Theodor, et al., Kulturräume und Kulturströmungen im mitteldeutschen Osten, Halle, 1936, p. 312; etc.Google Scholar

16 Adequate references to this summary would amount to a separate paper. In addition to the works cited in the preceding note, see e.g. Salomon, Ludwig, Geschichte des deutschen Zeitungewesens, 1, Oldenburg-Leipzig, 1906, pp. 10–17Google Scholar, and passim; Lüdtke, Gerhard and Mackensen, Lutz, Deutscher Kulturatlas, 5 vols., Berlin, 1928–36Google Scholar; etc.

17 Cf., on China, , Cressey, G. B., The Geographie Foundations of China, New York, 1934Google Scholar; Roxby, Percy M., “China as an Entity: The Comparison with Europe,” Geography, xix, No. 1 (1934), pp. 1–20Google Scholar; Francis, John de, Nationalism and Language in China, Princeton, N.J., 1950Google Scholar; etc. On Russia, see Kerner, Robert, The Urge to the Sea: The Role of Rivers, Portages, Ostrogs, Monasteries and Furs, Berkeley, Calif., 1942Google Scholar; Kluchevskii, V. O., A History of Russia, Vol. 1, New York, 1911Google Scholar; Thompson, J. W., Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages, A.D. 300–1300, New York, 1931Google Scholar; etc. On Switzerland, see Schulte, Aloys, Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Handels und Verkehrs zwischen Westdeutschland und Italien, Vol. 1, Leipzig, 1900Google Scholar; Lüdtke und Mackensen, op.cit.; Nabholz, Hans, Geschichte der Schweiz, Vol. 1, Zurich, 1932Google Scholar; Englert-Faye, C., Vom Mythus zur Idee der Schweiz, Zurich, 1940Google Scholar; Weiss, Richard, Volkskunde der Schweiz, Zurich, 1946Google Scholar; etc.

18 Cf. Wendel, Hermann, Makedonien und der Friede, Munich, 1919.Google Scholar

19 Cf. Gibb, Andrew Dewar, Scottish Empire, Glasgow-London, 1937.Google Scholar

20 Cf., e.g., Dodd, William E., The Cotton Kingdom: A Chronicle of the Old South, New Haven, Conn., 1919.Google Scholar

21 Cf. Beard, Charles A., The Idea of the National Interest, New York, 1934, pp. 22–25.Google Scholar I am indebted to Professor Hans Kohn for valuable suggestions on this point.

22 Cf. Neumann, John von and Morgenstern, Oscar, The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton, N.J., 1944.Google Scholar

23 Benedict, Ruth, Patterns of Culture, New York, Penguin-Mentor Books, 1946, p. 256.Google Scholar

24 Schumpeter, Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 2nd ed., New York, 1947.Google Scholar

25 Cf. Fay, Sidney B., The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia, 1640–1786, New York, 1937, pp. 52–53.Google Scholar

26 Cf. Toynbee, , op.cit., v, pp. 486, 518–19.Google Scholar

27 “… our citizens should … deal with foreigners as Greeks now deal with one another” (Plato, , Republic, v, 469–70, Cornford trans., New York, 1945, p. 174).Google Scholar Cf. also Morrow, Glenn R., Plato's Law of Slavery in Its Relation to Greek Law, Urbana, I11., 1935.Google Scholar

28 Cf. Kohn, , op.cit., pp. 98,Google Scholar 601 (Petrarch); p. 127 (Machiavelli); pp. 239, 659 (Rousseau); p. 294 (Jefferson). On the problem of individual self-awareness and identification with groups, cf. also Bay, Chr., Gullåvg, I., Ofstad, H., and Toenessen, H., Nationalism: A Study of Identification with People and Power: 1. Problems and Theoretical Framework, Oslo, Institute of Social Research, 1950Google Scholar, mimeographed.

29 Royal Institute of International Affairs, Nationalism, p. 11Google Scholar, with reference to Coulton, G. C., “Nationalism in the Middle Ages,” Cambridge Historical Journal, v, No. 1 (1935). pp. 15–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30 Cf., e.g., Rippy, J. Fred, Historic Evolution of Hispanic A merica, 3rd ed., New York, 1945.Google Scholar On the limited significance of administrative divisions in the last-named country, see Blanksten, George, Ecuador: Constitutions and Caudillos, Berkeley, Calif., 1951.Google Scholar

31 Sibley, Sheila, “Ballade of the Convict's Daughter,” in Jindyworobak Anthology, Melbourne, 1945Google Scholar; reprinted in Garnett, A. C., Freedom and Planning in Australia, Madison, Wis., 1949, pp. 243–44.Google Scholar

32 Cf., e.g., the data in Kohn, , op.cit., pp. 236Google Scholar, 352, 464, 637, etc.

33 Detailed documentation here would be unnecessary. On the Swiss symbols, see Englert-Faye, op.cit. For a novelist's description of the singing of the Negro anthem in South Africa, cf. Paton, Alan, Cry the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation, New York, 1948.Google Scholar

34 Cf. Hayes, Carlton H., Essays on Nationalism, New York, 1926Google Scholar, and The Historical Evolution of Modern Nationalism, New York, 1931; Schuman, F. L., International Politics, 3rd ed., New York, 1941, pp. 300–65; etc.Google Scholar

35 For some problems of conservative aristocratic leadership in undeveloped nations, cf., for the Arabs, the writings of H. A. R. Gibb; for an example from Tibet, , Mansergh, Nicholas, “The Asian Conference, 1947,” in The Commonwealth and the Nations, London, 1948, pp. 115–16Google Scholar; and for Southeast Asia, Bois, Cora Du, Social Forces in Southeast Asia, Minneapolis, Minn., 1949, pp. 33–36, 59.Google Scholar On the contrast, e.g., between French and American business investment policies, cf. Landes, David S., “French Entrepreneurship and Industrial Growth in the Nineteenth Century,” Journal of Economic History, ix (May 1949), pp. 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Cf. Toynbee, op.cit., passim; Kohn, op.cit., passim; Carlton H. Hayes, “Nationalism,” Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences; etc.

37 For this tradition of the poorest strata of the Hellenic world, see the intriguing case presented by Toynbee, , “Christus Patiens,” op.cit., vi, pp. 376–539.Google Scholar

38 On some of these, cf. Wheare, K. C., Federal Government, 2nd ed., New York, 1951Google Scholar; Janowsky, Oscar I., Nationalities and National Minorities, New York, 1945.Google Scholar