Between Western Terminology and the Eastern Case Study: Integral Nationalism in Thoughts of a Modern Pole by Roman Dmowski

Abstract

The term “integral nationalism” has been widely acclaimed as a useful tool to describe the increasingly radical, discriminatory and authoritarian movements of the New Right from the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. By conceptualizing it, the American historian Carlton J. Hayes sought to capture the main tenets of the new type of nationalism. However, it is a matter of inquiry whether the concept coined within the Western context can be applied universally – regardless of geographical or cultural differences. For this reason, this thesis will investigate both the benefits and shortcomings of this approach in respect to the ideological developments in Eastern Europe in the early twentieth century. Specifically, in the course of analysis I would like to answer to what extent the historical concept of “integral nationalism” is applicable to the case of Roman Dmowski, a well-known Polish, nationalist thinker.