Малките нации през призмата на традицията и модерността. Поглед към френска Канада
Small Nations through the Prism of Tradition and Modernity, and a Detour to French Canada

Summary/Abstract: In this article, we consider the role assigned to “small nations” in sociopolitical theories on nation and nationalism. First, we seek to illustrate how small nations serve as paradigmatic examples of cultural and ethnic nationalism, usually characterized by anti-modernism or pre-modernism. In this evolutionary and modernist grid of reading, nations and nationalism are viewed as modern constructions in opposition to cultural particularism, especially that linked to religion. In the light of recent works on “multiple modernities”, we propose reconsidering small nations by emphasizing the necessary dialectic rather than the strict opposition between tradition and modernity, between cultural and civic expressions, between the singular and the universal. To this end, the thought of the Quebec sociologist Fernand Dumont (1927–1997) can be useful. Three concepts will be introduced and articulated: “global society” (“société globale”), “national reference” (“référence nationale”) and “Nation-Church” (“Église-nation”).

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