Tom Nairn

Tom Nairn is Research Professor in the Politics Department of Durham University and was a Professor of Nationalism and Social Diversity at Austrailia's RMIT 2002 - 2010

Just another country

It is time to stop pretending that Europeans and Americanseven occupy the same world, wrote Robert Kagan in the Hoover Institutions Policy Review (reprinted in the August issue

By Tom Nairn

/ 10 Sep 2002

The party is over

I no longer recall the name of the village. On a sunny afternoon in June, 1977, somewhere in Somerset or Devon, we ended there by accident, after taking a wrong

By Tom Nairn

/ 22 May 2002

'The Lord of the Rings': ethnicity in your dreams

The filmed version of J.R.R. Tolkiens epic novel The Lord of the Rings is a strange example of cultural resurrectionism. Like a tribal mythology returned from beyond

By Tom Nairn

/ 27 Feb 2002

Turning-point politics: from salvaging the past to protecting the future

Many commentators have observed the striking change of temper in the USA after 11 September. A forceful re-animation of a sense of community (most evident in Rudy Giulianis New

By Tom Nairn

/ 16 Jan 2002

Hooligans of the Absolute: Black Pluto's door after 11 September

Aeneas was praying and holding on the altar when the prophetess started to speak: “Blood relations of Gods, bel Trojan, son of Anchises, the way down to Avernus is easy.

By Tom Nairn

/ 3 Oct 2001

The centre at the edge

For thirty years, Hugh Brody has lived, worked with and reported on hunter-gatherers. His work is an attempt to communicate the profound difference of their way of life from urban

By Anthony Barnett, Todd Gitlin, Tom Nairn and Hugh Brody

/ 17 Jul 2001

High Noon for the centre left

Across Britain, Tony Blairs Labour government has aroused disappointment among its supporters and hatred among its opponents. Yet it retains an unprecedented opinion poll lead. In Pariah Kingdom, a

By Tom Nairn, Matthew Taylor, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Matthew d'Ancona

/ 24 May 2001