In this analysis of nationalism, the author questions, in particular, why nations in the West are able to accept the nation as the legitimate space for democratic instutions, whereas in the post-communist world, especially in eastern Europe, ethnicity is pre-eminent. He argues that the nation is simultaneously ethnic, civic, and structured by the state; and, thus, that the excesses of ethnicity derive from the shortcomings of state capacity and the weakness of civil society, rather than being an inherent evil. Schoepflin applies his understanding of nationalism to Yugoslavia, Hungary, and other central and eastern European case studies, and also compares the role of ethnicity in other states, including the United Kingdom.
