#1190 Eric Storm - Nationalism: A World History

Dec 18, 2025

Eric Storm, an Associate Professor of History at Leiden University and author of Nationalism: A World History, explores the rise and evolution of nationalism. He discusses how nationalism originated during the age of revolutions, linking it to citizenship and popular sovereignty. Storm details the radicalization period before WWI, the impact of global conflicts, and the cultural factors shaping nationalist identities. He raises concerns about contemporary nationalism's ties to xenophobia and geopolitical tensions, emphasizing the risks posed by strengthened borders and climate denial.

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INSIGHT

Nationhood Born In Revolution

Nationalism arose with modern society and the age of revolutions, exemplified by the French Revolution's idea of a sovereign nation of citizens.
Eric Storm explains nationalism began as legal-political citizenship, not ethnic or cultural identity.

INSIGHT

Nation-State Model Spread By Utility

The nation-state model spread globally because it delivered military strength, tax revenue, and legal equality that rulers needed to compete.
Eric Storm shows even traditional rulers adopted nation-state institutions to survive imperial pressures.

INSIGHT

Language Was Engineered By Schools

Cultural and linguistic nationalism rose during Romanticism and later fueled state-led education to create national languages.
Storm describes a deliberate process of 'turning peasants into Frenchmen' via primary schooling and curricula.

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Dr. Eric Storm is Associate Professor of History at Leiden University. He is a specialist in Spanish history of the 19th and 20th centuries. He also conducted extensive research into the construction of regional identities in France, Spain and Germany between 1890 and 1940. At present, he mainly publishes about nationalization processes in a comparative perspective. He is the author of Nationalism: A World History.

In this episode, we focus on Nationalism. We start by talking about when nationalism and nation-states started, and how they evolved over time. We discuss how nationalist radicalization occurred from 1885 to 1914, World War I, the interwar period, the impact of World War II, and the modernization of nation-states and the dissolution of modern empires. We talk about the impact of nationalism on culture, and vice-versa. We discuss exceptions to the nation-state model (Saudi Arabia, Brunei, the Vatican City, and Afghanistan), and nations without states (the Kurds, and the Catalans). Finally, we talk about the current rise of nationalism, xenophobic incidents, and being against the entry of poor immigrants.

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