Nationalism’s political role depends on the class configuration of its power bloc

Evidence

I refuse to accept that nationalism is the determinate, dialectical opposite of imperialism; that dialectical status accrues only to socialism. By the same token, however, it is only from the prior and explicit socialist location that I select particular nationalist positions for criticism, even at times very harsh denunciation; a critique of nationalism without that explicit location in the determinate socialist project has never made any sense for me, either politically or theoretically. Nor do I accept that nationalism is some unitary thing, always progressive or always retrograde. What role any given nationalism would play always depends on the configuration of the class forces and sociopolitical practices which organize the power bloc within which any particular set of nationalist initiatives become historically effective. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 21

Nor do I accept rhar nationalism is some unitary thing, always progressive or always retrograde. What role any given nationalism would play always depends on the configuration of the class forces and sociopolitical practices which organize the power bloc within which any particular ser of nationalist initiatives become historically effective. That position cuts against both Third-Worldist nationalism and posrstructuralist rhetorical inflations, and implies at least two things. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 56

Categorization

• DEFINE: States Ahmad’s position on nationalism, offering an alternative to both Third-Worldist nationalism and poststructuralist anti-nationalism.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 21; Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 56
• XREF: connects to: Economic nationalism results from special interests empowered by popular democracy, not poor leadership. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 384; Illiberal democracy enables nationalist preferences that democracy’s own norms would reject — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 145; Nationalism lacks fixed essence; its value depends on who wields it — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 395 (+1 more)