Why Independence? The Instrumental and Ideological Dimensions of Nationalism

Abstract

This article explores the distinction between an instrumentalist nationalism employed as a resource to combat relative deprivation and an ideological nationalism that resolves the anomic impact of social disruption by constructing politics as a simplistic moral confrontation between the virtuous “Us” and the demonized “Other.” This distinction is related to the examination of how radicalized ethnic majority nationalisms and radicalized ethnic minority nationalisms might be buffered by civic nationalisms, or by the resilience of patrimonial networks. These conceptualizations of nationalism illuminate, and are at the same time illuminated by, one contemporary dispute, that of Achenese secessionism in Indonesia.