Nationalism has long been overlooked by scholars who study international relations or civil wars.

This talk highlights the crucial role of nationalism – the demand that states be ruled by representatives of the nation – in the political transformations of the world during the past 250 years and the wars between and within states that have accompanied this process. The talk also contains two short excursus that seek to understand the Ukraine war and the Gaza conflict from this global comparative and long-term historical perspective.

To discuss the role of nationalism in political transformations and war, moderator Professor Maya Tudor, Associate Professor of Government and Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government is joined by Professor Andreas Wimmer, Lieber Professor of Sociology and Political Philosophy, Columbia University.