The MSc in Nationalism in Global Perspective at the University of Edinburgh is to close from next year. ASEN is coordinating a letter to the Vice-chancellor, Prof Sir Peter Mathieson, expressing concern at the decision and urging for it to be reconsidered. The letter is below; please complete the form if you would like to add your name.
Professor Sir Peter Mathieson MBBS, PhD, etc.
Principal and Vice-chancellor,
University of Edinburgh.
By email.
Dear Sir Peter,
We, the undersigned, write to express our collective concern at the pending closure of the MSc in Nationalism in Global Perspective at the University of Edinburgh, and to urge a reconsideration of the decision.
New forms of assertive nationalism are on the rise around the world, and new forms of populist nationalism are transforming long standing patterns of domestic and international politics. The return of nationalist warfare – in Ukraine, in Israel/Palestine, in Myanmar, in Sudan – must be counted with climate change, market instability, and pandemics as issues of global consequence that cannot be addressed without coordinated international action. Understanding how that action can be achieved, implemented, and maintained requires understanding how nationalism shapes how people see the world.
Nationalism studies address the phenomenon’s manifestations in these contexts and more. We submit that the need for the study of nationalism is more important and more urgent than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
That you discussed Brexit, a nationalist project, in your appearance at the Scottish Parliament, a body that exists because of nationalism, is testament enough to the importance of the field.
We recognise the realities facing universities today, and that fields of strategic importance may be niche interests. However, the loss of this programme would not just be a missed opportunity for the University of Edinburgh, but for the academy more broadly. Similar programmes at the London School of Economics and at Central European University have closed, leaving Edinburgh as the pre-eminent centre for the study of nationalism in Europe.
As a comprehensive university with a global reputation, the University of Edinburgh has long recognised that it has a responsibility not just to respond to student demand but also to sustain fields of study that are intellectually and socially vital, even if they are not the most immediately popular or profitable.
Although the nationalism programme at Edinburgh has never been large in the thirty years of its existence, it has attracted students from over fifty countries, many of whom have gone on to professorships from California to Australia, as well as roles in regional and national governments, international organisations, and global policy and civil society. The course’s reach extends well beyond academia.
Should the decision to close this programme be irreversible, we would ask that the University not lose the strengths it has in teaching and research on nationalism but to make sure that its expertise and pedagogy continue in other programmes at the University, and through partnerships with other organisations.
The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, which has coordinated this letter, has long had a close and productive relationship with the University of Edinburgh, and would welcome the opportunity to build on that relationship in the interest of supporting vibrant scholarship on nationalism through its conference, summer school, and journals.
Yours sincerely,
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- Jonathan Hearn,
President, ASEN - Athena Leoussi
University of Reading - Elliott Green
Professor of Development Studies, LSE - Sinisa Malesevic,
Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology, University College Dublin - Joep Leerssen
Emeritus Professor of European Studies, University of Amsterdam - Eric Peter Kaufmann
Editor, Nations and Nationalism; University of Buckingham - Javier Carbonell Castañer
PhD student, University of Edinburgh - David Landon Cole
Coordinator, ASEN - Florian Bieber
Professor for Southeast European History and Politics, University of Graz - Katharine Adeney
Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Nottingham - Alexandra Niculae
PhD student, University of Liverpool - Vlatko Sekulovic
UDG Montenegro - Raül Tormos
Head of Methodology and Research, Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió – Departament de la Presidència, Generalitat de Catalunya - Liora Sion
Associate Professor, Copenhagen University - Meghan Tinsley
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester - David Matsaberidze
Associate Professor. MA in Nationalism Studies, CEU, 2008 - Phillipp Decker
Postdoc Fellow, LMU Munich - Tim van Gerven
Associate Professor, Arctic University of Norway - Ryan Whiston
PhD Student, Social & Political Thought, York University - David Jangminlien
Doctoral Student, National Institute of Advanced Studies - Severin Lorenčič
Junior Researcher, Department of Asian Studies, University of Ljubljana - Claudia Snochowska-Gonzalez
Assistant Professor, Institute of Slavic Studies. Polish Academy of Sciences - Daniela Simon
Managing Director, Lecturer, and Researcher, Institute of Danube Swabian History and Area Studies - Martyn Smith
Senior Lecturer Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield - Rebecca Clendenen
PhD, University of Ilinois - Adriano Cirulli
Associate Professor, Università del Piemonte Orientale - Raemi Omori
Graduate of MSc Sociology and Global Change Programme, University of Edinburgh - Gordana Uzelac
Reader in Sociology, London Metropolitan University - Catherine Baker
Reader in 20th Century History, University of Hull - Ceren Şengül
- Gentian Doci
- Kamaran Palani
Programme Lead, LSE Middle East Centre - Rok Stergar
Professor in Modern History, University of Ljubljana - Agustí Colomines
Associate Professor, University of Barcelona - Sine Krogh
Postdoc, Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Copenhagen - Eva Dowling
County Councillor (Green Party of Ireland). Former Deputy Mayor (2023-2024). MSc Nationalism Studies, University of Edinburgh (class 2011) - Dorothy L. Zinn
Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano - Tornike Metreveli
Associate Professor, European Studies, Lund University - Eric Storm
Senior Lecturer European History, Leiden University - Ramzy Mansour
Member, ASEN - Léo Henry
PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto - Alima Bucciantini
History Teacher; University of Edinburgh MSc in Nationalism, 2005, PhD 2009 - Francesca Zantedeschi
Postdoc Researcher, Universiteit van Amsterdam - Andi Haxhiu
Assistant Professor, University of Business and Technology - Sofía Rodríguez
PhD Candidate, University of Salamanca - Reinier Langelaar
Principal Researcher, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences - Paolo Perri
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Università della Valle d’Aosta - Giorgi Macharashvili
Associate Researcher, Institute of Oriental Studies, Ilia State University - Richard Marshall-Lee
MA in Language, Culture, and History: Scandinavian Studies, University College London - Makoto Takahashi
Associate Professor, Kyushu University - Caitlin Oleson
Business Owner, Healthy Way Market - Jake Rainbow
PhD Student, University of Hertfordshire - Thalia Prokopiou
Doctoral Researcher, Regensburg University/GSOSES Regensburg - Alexandros Zachariades
Research Associate, LSE Hellenic Observatory - Lena Surzhko Harned
Associate Professor of Teaching in Political Science, Penn State, Behrend College - Enocent Msindo
Director, African Studies Centre, Rhodesia University - Ehsan Kashfi
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Copenhagen - Brendan O’Leary
Lauder Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania - Matthias Schanz
Advisor to the President of the State Parliament, State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg - Christian Wicke
Utrecht University - Edward Matlack
Researcher, MemGap Institute - Vjollca Krasniqi
Associate Professor, University of Prishtina - Jovo Bakić
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade - Piotr Ahmad
Lecturer, University of British Columbia - Pit-roig Vinyals i Tasa
Writer and Activist, PEN Català - James Dawson
Assistant Professor in Politics, Coventry University - John Mason
Writer, Translator, Academic, and Poet, Freelance and University of Southern Denmark Emeritus - Richard Haesly
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach - Javier Antón Merino
Senior Lecturer, Universidad de Burgos - Yang Hao
PhD Student, Keio University - Uriel Abulof
Associate Professor of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, Cornell University - Aya Tsuruta
Associate Professor, Chukyo University - Stephen Satkiewicz
Comparative Civilizations Forum - John Kelly
Lecturer and former Director of PGR in MHSES, University of Edinburgh - Valdrina Selimi
PhD Candidate, Pecs University - Luis Asua
Class of 1988, LSE - Julian Manning
Professor of Social Anthropology, Nihon University College of Art - Wahidah R. Bulan
Sociologist, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta - Sofia V Forbes
Final Year Undergraduate, International Relations and Asian Studies, University of Nottingham - Lerona Lewis
Assistant Professor, uOttawa - Andrea Lerone Lewis
Student, Concordia University - Takashi Shogimen
Professor of History, University of Otago, Dunedin - Marko Zilovic
Assistant Professor, University of Belgrade - Gülay Umaner Duba
Academic, Eastern Mediterranean University - Daniel Esparza
Senior Lecturer, Palacky University Olomouc - Aliz Nagy
Assistant Professor, Eötvös Loránd University
- Péter Kállai
Associate Professor, ELTE - Mary Najjar Aboud
PhD Candidate, Haifa University - Shingo Sato
Associate Professor, Waseda University School of Social Sciences - David Russell
Former Student, University of Edinburgh - Mostafa Khalili
Assistant Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies - Nikola Tomašegović
Senior Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb - Tamara Trost
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Ljubljana - Koen Aerts
Associate Professor, Ghent University - Cory Dudka
Nationalism Studies Alumnus, Central European University - José Manuel Sobral
Principal Researcher, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa - Sagrario Ramirez
Full Professor of Social Psychology, Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology, Complutense - Sherrill Stroschein
Reader in Politics, University College London - Danny Kaplan
Sociology, Bar-Ilan University - Sarah Lemmen
Assistant Professor, Department of Contemporary History, Complutense - Christopher Cannell
PhD, University of Edinburgh - Dragana Prvulovic
Postdoctoral Fellow, New Europe College - Williamkery Gaddam
Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University - Alejandro Quiroga
Programme Director, Masters in Nationalism Studies, Complutense - Marios Hatzopoulos
Assistant Professor of Historical Sociology, University of Crete - Yihui Hu
- Aida Zepcan
Senior Researcher, PPMI, and CEU Nationalism Studies Alumnus - Angeliki Sifaki
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra - Dragana Kovacevic Bielicki
Senior Research Adviser, University of Bergen - Jasna Dragovic-Soso
Incoming Director of School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL - Yesim Bayar
St Lawrence University - Olayide Oladeji
Senior Lecturer, Ekiti State University - Shierwin Cabunilas
Professor, Graduate School of Law, San Beda University - Robert Erdei
PhD Student, Babeş-Bolyai University - Abijah Ahern
PhD Student, University of Westminster - Man Po Wong
Postgraduate Student, University College London - Mats Wickström
Senior Researcher, Åbo Akademi University - Elene Kajaia
Nationalism Studies Student, CEU - César Jiménez-Martínez
Assistant Professor, LSE - Konomi Hori
Postgraduate Student, University of Oxford, and MSc Nationalism Class of ’25, University of Edinburgh - Reetta Eiranen
Senior Research Fellow, Research Council of Finland Center of Excellence in Nationalism Research in the Humanities - Stephanie Pozniak
Student, University of Glasgow - Javier Moreno-Luzon
Professor of History, Complutense - Charlotte Armstrong
MSc Nationalism Alumna, University of Edinburgh - Junki Nakahara
Lecturer, University of Amsterdam - Can Tao
- Nino Gozalishvili
Associate Professor, The University of Georgia - Ceren Lord
Research Officer, LSE - Erik Tiley Lyman
Sociologist - Silvana Nini
Researcher, Institute of Anthropology, Tirana - Endrit Haxhiu
- John Breuilly
Emeritus Professor of Nationalism and Ethnicity, LSE - Matjaz Vidmar
Lecturer, University of Edinburgh - Alex Marshall
Senior Lecturer in German, Sheffield Hallam University - Junxiang Fan
Doctor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University - Nargiz Nahmatova
PhD Student, Swansea University - Aparna Singh
Research Scholar, IIT (BHU) Varanasi - Hanna Zelma Horányi
Nationalism Studies Alumna, Central European University - Christine Chiriac
Postdoc Fellow, University of Hamburg - Ashley Reynolds
Senior Policy Analyst, Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure - Sarah Pilchick
Doctoral Candidate, Maastricht University - Sanna Kähkönen
Research coordinator/CoE NARS, Finnish Literature Society - Leyre Arrieta
Professor, University of Deusto - Christopher Pokarier
Professor, Waseda University - Adrian Guelke
Professor Emeritus, Queen’s University of Belfast - Melis Zeynep Ünür
Lecturer, Social Sciences University of Ankara - Sandra Obradovic
Assistant Professor in Psychology, LSE - Sam Pryke
Academic, Wolverhampton University - Ritika Chaudhary
PhD Researcher, University College Dublin - Kas Swerts
Postdoctoral Researcher, KU Leuven and ADVN Archive for National Movements - Ludger Mees
Professor of Contemporary History, University of the Basque Country - Devaanshi Khanzode
Researcher, Global Migration Institute Toronto - Emmanuel Dalle Mulle
Ramón y Cajal Researcher, Complutense - Ermioni Vlachidou
PhD Student, Simon Fraser University - Vincent Della Sala
Professor, University of Trento - Onur Isci
PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh - Niamh Gregory
Undergraduate Student, University of Exeter - Amir Hosny
MSc in Nationalism Student, University of Edinburgh - Sergiusz Bober
Senior Researcher, European Centre for Minority Issues - Daniel Topinka
Associate Professor, Palacky University Olomouc - Mariusz Bogacki
Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Konstanz - Magdalena Pycińska
Associate Professor, Institute of the Middle and Far East, Jagiellonian University - Günce Sabah Eryılmaz
Associate Professor, Bahcesehir University - Ingrid-Kristine Sinding
Student, International Christian University - Claudia Lueders
Lecturer in Politics, Oxford Brookes University - Andrea Peinhopf
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Ostrava - Karina Lukin
University Researcher, Centre of Excellence in Nationalism Research in the Humanities; University of Helsinki - Ross Bond
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Edinburgh - Maja Zadel
Researcher/Research Associate in Nationalism Studies, Science and Research Centre Koper - Jon Fox
Director, Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, University of Bristol - Maciej Cupryś
PhD graduate, University of Galway - Jonathan Heaney
Lecturer in Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast - Matthew Hurst
PhD, University of York - Henio Hoyo
Associate Professor, CIDE enter for Economic Research and Teaching, Mexico City - Tamari Taralashvili
Researcher, lecturer, PhD candidate, TU-Chemnitz, Ilia State University - Tobias Biedermann
Research consultant - Mehr Puri
Student, Presidency University - Nelu Cristian Ploscaru
Professor of History, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași - Andrew Wyatt
Associate Professor, University of Bristol - Pontus Odmalm
Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Edinburgh/PIR - Julia Leikin
Lecturer, UCL - Morten Nordhagen Ottosen
Professor, Norwegian Defence University College - Spyros Sofos
Simon Fraser University - Mirkamran Huseynlo
PhD Researcher, University of Zurich/Vytautas Magnus University - Roald Berg
Professor Emeritus, University of Stavanger - Jhakendra Gharti Magar
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal - Sören Keil
Senior Teaching and Research Fellow, University of Passau - Ruxandra Trandafoiu
Professor of Politics, Edge Hill University - Sara Dorman
Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh - Taylor McConnell
Lecturer in Cultural Studies/European Ethnology, Johannes Gutenburg University Mainz - Noemi Lendvai-Bainton
Associate Professor, University of Bristol - Richard Mole
Professor of Political Sociology, UCL - Róbert Kovács
Student, CEU - Kazuya Fukuoka
Professor of Political Science, St Joseph’s University - Shubhanginee Singh
Postdoctoral Researcher, Tallinn University - Fernand de Varennes
Former UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, United Nations - Edin Hajdarpasic
Associate Professor of History, Loyola University of Chicago - Laurence Cooley
Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, University of Birmingham - Srdja Pavlovic
University of Alberta / Doclean Academy of Sciences and Arts - Gabriella Elgenius
Professor, University of Gothenburg - Stephen Drennan
Retired Managing Director; Edinburgh BSc alumnus - Branko Sekulić
President, Institute for Theology and Politics - Alexander Mutnansky
Independent researcher - Mihai S. Rusu
Associate Professor of Sociology, LBUS - Gyorgy Toth
Lecturer, University of Stirling - Lidia Pakhomova
Independent researcher - Deva Sukumar Rajan
PhD, University of Bristol - Kurt W. Bassuener
Co-founder and Senior Associate, Democratization Policy Council - Karl Jacobs
American Institute of Foreign Studies - Giovanni Picker
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow - Andreea Idrea
Research Affiliate, University of Glasgow - Karim Murji
Professor, University of West London - Chris Lorenz
Professor Emeritus, Ruhr University Bochum - Rudina Duraj
Researcher, Centre for Arbëresh Studies - Jim House
Senior Lecturer, University of Leeds - Jan Grill
Professor, Universidad del Valle - Michiel Piersma
Visiting Fellow, Australian National University - Mariya Ivancheva
Senior Lecturer, Strathclyde University - Jennifer Todd
Full Professor Emeritus School of Politics and IR, and Fellow Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin - Ivana Stepanovic
Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg - Katarina Damčević
Postdoctoral researcher, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS Regensburg) - Georgii Beniukhis
MSc in Nationalism Student, University of Edinburgh - Oisín Keohane
Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Dundee - Sum Kung
Lecturer, Kingston College - Maeva Berghmans
Editorial & Research Assistant, University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard - Tatjana Samostyan
Senior Researcher, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg - Stefan Morar
Postdoctoral Researcher, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu - Abdelilah Ghiyati
Independent Research and Author - Rupert Taylor
Research Scholar, Queen’s University Belfast - Savaş Dede
PhD Student, Istanbul Bilgi University - Dania Lemmer
Researcher, Central European University - Gale Macleod
Professor, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh - Lindsay Paterson
Professor Emeritus of Education Policy, University of Edinburgh - Michael Rosie
Former Programme Director, MSc Nationalism Studies, University of Edinburgh - Gezim Krasniqi
Lecturer, University of Edinburgh - James Kennedy
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Edinburgh - Liliana Riga
Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh - Steven Grosby
Professor Emeritus, Clemson University - Michael Hechter
Foundation Professor of Political Science, Arizona State University - Umut Ozkirimli
Senior Research Fellow, IBEI – Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals - Karlo Basta
Senior Lecturer, Co-director, MSc Nationalism in Global Perspective, University of Edinburgh - John A. Hall
Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology Emeritus, McGill University - Xosé M. Núñez Seixas
Professor of Modern & Contemporary History, University of Santiago de Compostela - Angeliki Sifaki
Postdoctoral Marie-Curie Fellow, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra - Bernard Yack
Lerman-Neubauer Professor of Democracy and Public Policy, Brandeis University - Kriton Kuci
Lecturer in Political Science, Mediterranean University of Albania - Berihun Adane Anteneh
MA (IR and Diplomacy) Student, Addis Ababa University - Vincent Chong
Senior Journalist and Graduate of MSc Nationalism Studies, University of Edinburgh - Dr Alexandros Zachariades
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Cyprus - Nour Halabi
Lecturer, University of Aberdeen - Ivan Roško
Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb - Iryna Zhyrun
PhD in Political Science and Independent Researcher
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- Jonathan Hearn,
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