Eastern' and 'Western' Nationalisms (Reflections of the Author of 'Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism'‪)‬

I should be frank in stating from the outset that I do not believe that the most important distinctions among nationalisms--in the past, today, or in the near future--run along East-West lines. The oldest nationalisms in Asia--here I am thinking of India, the Philippines, and Japan--are much older than many of those in Europe and Europe Overseas--Corsica, Scotland, New Zealand, Estonia, Australia, Euskadi, to name a few. * Philippine nationalism in its origins looks, for obvious reasons, very similar to the nationalisms of Cuba and continental Latin America; Meiji nationalism has obvious similarities to the late-nineteenth century official nationalisms we find in Ottoman Turkey, Tsarist Russia, and imperial Great Britain; Indian nationalism is morphologically analogous to what one finds in Ireland and in Egypt.