Global Matrix

Tom Nairn is Professor of Nationalism and Cultural Diversity at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. He is the author of After Britain (Granta, 2000), Pariah (Verso, 2002) and Global Matrix (Pluto, 2005). He writes regularly for newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the New Statesman and the London Review of Books.

Globalization has brought with it many difficult and contradictory phenomena: violence, deep national insecurities, religious divisions and individual insecurities. This book takes a critical look at three key areas - globalism, nationalism, and state-terror - to confront common mythologies and identify the root causes of the problems we face. Too many commentators still argue that globalization is predominantly a neo-liberal economic phenomenon; that nation-states are on the way out, and that terror is something that primarily comes from below. Global Matrix exposes the limitations of this argument. Written by two leading scholars, this is a lucid study of what place the nation-state has in a globalizing world that will appeal to students across the political and social sciences.

Preface; 1. Introduction: Mapping Nationalism and Globalism; Part I. Rethinking Globalism and Globalization; 2. Global Enchantment: A Matrix of Ideologies; 3. Global Trajectories: America and the Unchosen; 4. Global Tensions: A Clash of Social Formations; Part II. Debating Civic and Post-Nationalism; 5. Fetishized Nationalism? (Joan Cocks); 6. Ambiguous Nationalism: A Reply to Joan Cocks; 7. Dark Nationalism or Transparent Postnationalism? Part III. Reflecting on Old and New Nations; 8. Ukania: The Rise of the 'Annual Report' Society; 9. Australia: Anti-Politics for a Passive Federation; 10. Late Britain: Disorientations from Down Under; 11. North America: The Misfortunes and 'Death' of Ethnicity; 12. Central Asia: Continuities and Discontinuities; Part IV. Confronting Terror and Violence; 13. Democracy and the Shadow of Genocide; 14. Nationalism and the Crucible of Modern Totalitarianism; 15. Control and the Projection of a Totalizing War-Machine; 16. Terrorism and the Opening of Black Pluto's Door; 17. Meta-War and the Insecurity of the United States; 18. Post-2001 and the Third Coming of Nationalism; References; Index