Quote of the day

Darkness is the best burnisher of light in so many ways

Syndicate content

Tom Nairn

Tom Nairn is an expert on globalisation, nationalism, British institutions and Scotland. He is professor of globalisation at the Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. His many books include Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State- terrorism (2005), The Enchanted Glass: Britain and its monarchy (1994) and After Britain (2000).

Recent articles


Byzantium: always an Empire, never a Nation

In a response to Judith Herrin's new history, the example of Byzantium inspires some contemporary reflections from Tom Nairn in Melbourne's Arena magazine, republished with kind permission.

Globalisation and nationalism: the new deal

The map of world statehood is creatively fissuring, as globalisation accentuates difference and breeds self-confident ambition among its underlings and marginals. The process, says Tom Nairn's extraordinary Edinburgh Lecture, heralds the retreat of the "body-builders' club" of would-be great nations and the "emergence of new, smaller communities of will and purpose - the nations of a new and deeply different age"

The sorcerer’s birthday: notes from the apprentice

Anthony Barnett, pioneering constitutional reformer and founder of openDemocracy, is 65. Tom Nairn, a lifelong ally, pays intellectual respects and looks forward.

Not on your life

Britain’s prime-minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown is making an offer the people – not least in England - must refuse, says Tom Nairn.

The Queen: an elegiac prophecy

The real target of Stephen Frears's depiction of a British queen under siege from politicians and people following Princess Diana's death is the constitutional system embodied in Tony Blair's imperial prime ministership. Tom Nairn, pioneering critic of Britain's monarchical state, views the film and looks beyond.