This panel explores the intersections of nationalism and education. Darden has examined how education fosters durable national loyalties, shedding light on over a century of regional patterns in voting, secession, and armed resistance in Eurasia, and beyond. His research reveals the long-term impact of educational systems on national cohesion and political behavior. Lindstam has explored the role of symbolic politics in shaping national identity and minority inclusion. Her work asks how changes in textbooks, street names, and public symbols affect minorities’ sense of belonging and whether a social group’s perceived centrality to the nation influences its voice in public discourse. Using innovative causal research designs—including surveys, lab experiments, and natural experiments—she provides critical insights into the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Paglayan’s work challenges conventional wisdom about the origins of education systems in the West, showing that they emerged not from democratic ideals or industrialization needs but from governments’ efforts to exert control over citizens. Her findings have profound implications for understanding the future of democracy, education systems, economic development, and foreign aid. Together, these scholars will explore how education shapes and is shaped by nationalism, with consequences for politics, identity, and governance.
Panelists:
Keith Darden (American U, USA)
Agustina Paglayan (UCSD, USA)
Emmy Lindstam (IE U, Europe)
Organized and moderated Harris Mylonas (George Washington U, US)
Bibliography:
Keith Darden and Anna Grzymala-Busse. The Great Divide: Literacy, Nationalism, and the Communist Collapse DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2007.0015
Laia Balcells, Mass Schooling and Catalan Nationalism: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2013.847602
Vasiliki Fouka, Backlash:The Unintended Effects of Language Prohibition in US Schools after WWI: https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdz024 Keith Darden and Harris Mylonas. “Threats to territorial integrity, national mass schooling, and linguistic commonality.” Comparative Political Studies 49.11 (2016): 1446-1479. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140156067
Haas, Nicholas and Emmy Lindstam. 2024. “My History or Our History? Historical Revisionism and Entitlement to Lead.” American Political Science Review 118(4): 1778–1802. doi: 10.1017/S000305542300117X
Agustina Paglayan, “Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education” (Princeton University Press, 2024
