‘Dominant ethnicity’ and the ‘ethnic-civic’ dichotomy in the work of A. D. Smith

This article considers the way in which the work of Anthony Smith has helped to structure debates surrounding the role of ethnicity in present-day nations. Two major lines of enquiry are evident here. First, the contemporary role of dominant ethnic groups within 'their' nations and second, the interplay between ethnic and civic elements in nationalist argument. The two processes are related, but maintain elements of distinctiveness. Smith's major contribution to the dominant ethnicity debate has been to disembed ethnicity from the ideologically-charged and/or anglo-centric discourse of ethnic relations and to place it in historical context, thereby opening up space for dominant group ethnicity to be considered as a distinct phenomenon. This said, Smith's work does not adequately account for the vicissitudes of dominant ethnicity in the contemporary West. Building on the classical works of Hans Kohn and Friedrich Meinecke, Anthony Smith has also made a seminal contribution to the debate on civic and ethnic forms of national identity and nationalist ideology. As well as freeing this debate from the strong normative overtones which it has often carried, he has continued to insist that the terms civic and ethnic should be treated as an ideal-typical distinction rather than a scheme of classification

Patrick J. Harrigan, Mobility, elites and education in french society of the Second Empire

Schnapper Bernard. Patrick J. Harrigan, Mobility, elites and education in french society of the Second Empire. In: Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, tome 29 N°4, Octobre-décembre 1982. pp. 684-686

Pour une géographie des mentalités judiciaires : la litigiosité en France au XIXe siècle

For a geography of judicial mentalities : the state of litigation in France during the 19th century Bernard Schnapper Begining with legal statistics, the author defines a "rate of secondary litigations" (number of trials per 1000 inhabitants to come to court) and "primary litigations" (cases coming before the justice of the peace). This has enabled him to trace the evolution of trials in France from 1831 to 1925. With the aid of a set of maps, he circumscribes the regions where the most cases were heard during the last century ; whence the sharp contrast that would later subside. By examining the possible causes of these contrasts, the author arrives at an element that is irreducible as far as present-day knowledge goes ; the judicial mentality has been forged on regional soil and history.Schnapper Bernard. Pour une géographie des mentalités judiciaires : la litigiosité en France au XIXe siècle. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 34ᵉ année, N. 2, 1979. pp. 399-419

La fixation du denier des rentes et l'opinion parlementaire au XVIe siècle

Schnapper Bernard. La fixation du denier des rentes et l'opinion parlementaire au XVIe siècle. In: Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, tome 4 N°3, Juillet-septembre 1957. pp. 161-170