Nationalism and Modernism; a comparison of Anthony D. Smith and modernist's approach

Nationalism and modernism, and the relationship between them from the perspective of different scholars and schools of thought have always been a subject of debate. Many scholars have concerned themselves with the concepts of ethnicity, nation, and nationalism and their relationship with modernism and modern age. The main controversy among scholars and schools of thought have centered on the issue of whether the formation of nation, as it is with nationalism, is a function of modernism or not. While the most illustrious exponents of the modernist approach see a causal relationship between nationalism and nation-state, some scholars such as Anthony Smith have criticized such a view. This paper is an attempt to investigate Anthony Smith’s and modernists’ viewpoint on nationalism and modernism. The main theme is that while modernists consider nation and nationalism to be the products of the changes of the modern era, Anthony Smith, although definitely recognizes some relationship between nationalism and modernism, does not establish a causal relationship between these two phenomena. More specifically, he does not conclude that nation