This article critically reviews three of the most significant debates in the sociology of nations and nationalism over the past 50 years: (1) the problem of methodological nationalism on the main features of nation-states; (2) the tension between primordialism and modernism in understanding the historicity of nations; and (3) the politics of nationalism between universalism and particularism. These three debates help us clarify some key theses in our long-term understanding of nations and nationalism: processes of nation and nation-state formation are not opposed to but compatible with the rise of globalisation and non-state forms of governance; the question ‘when is a nation?’ combines modern and pre-modern dimensions; the politics of nationalism is neither unfailingly democratic nor exclusively regressive. A key paradox that unfolds is that all nations invest heavily in the production and reproduction of their own exceptionalism.

中文翻译：

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超越民族？还是回到它？国家社会学和民族主义的当前趋势

本文批判性地回顾了过去 50 年来民族社会学和民族主义中最重要的三个争论：（1）关于民族国家主要特征的方法论民族主义问题；(2) 原始主义与现代主义在理解民族历史性方面的张力；(3) 普遍主义与特殊主义之间的民族主义政治。这三场辩论帮助我们澄清了我们对民族和民族主义的长期理解中的一些关键论点：民族和民族国家的形成过程与全球化和非国家治理形式的兴起并不对立，而是与之相容；问题“什么时候是一个国家？” 结合现代和前现代的维度；民族主义政治既不是绝对民主的，也不是完全倒退的。