La provocadora lectura de George L. Mosse del sentido de los nacionalismos. Su importancia teórica para la comprensión de los populismos latinoamericanos

Abstract

Concepts emerge and consolidate along lengthy historical processes. Different cultural traditions produce different approaches to them, many times giving them a polysemous character. For that reason George L. Mosse’s studies on Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries are important to understand, interpret and apply the concepts of nation and nationalism. His analysis of the circumstances that produced them (secularization, urbanization and industrialization, that produced high levels of social alienation) were useful for him to understand why, in search of the absolute and the lost certainties, mass politics has displaced theology and Christian liturgy. The usefulness of Mosse’s theoretical development has acquired great importance for the study of populism, authentic “regional idiosyncrasy” of the Americas.