Threats to Territorial Integrity, National Mass Schooling, and Linguistic Commonality

Abstract

Why are some countries more linguistically homogeneous than others? We posit that the international environment in which a state develops partially determines the extent of its linguistic commonality and national cohesion. Specifically, the presence of an external threat of territorial conquest or externally supported secession leads governing elites to have stronger incentives to pursue nation-building strategies to generate national cohesion, often leading to the cultivation of a common national language through mass schooling. Comparing cases with similar levels of initial linguistic heterogeneity, state capacity, and development, but in different international environments, we find that states that did not face external threats to their territorial integrity were more likely to outsource education and other tools for constructing identity to missionaries or other groups, or not to invest in assimilation at all, leading to higher ethnic heterogeneity. States developing in high threat environments were more likely to invest in nation-building strategies to homogenize their populations.

Territorial designs and international politics: the diverging constitution of space and boundaries

“…12. For some of the mechanism through which such dynamic could work, see Darden and Mylonas (2016) and Gibler (2014) 13. Mylonas and Shelef (2014) propose such an argument in the context of the study of stateless nationalist movements.…”

Literacy and State–Society Interactions in Nineteenth‐Century France

“…2 See Balcells (2013, 468, 474-75), Bendix (1964, 108), Darden and Grzymala-Busse (2006, 89-90, 94, 96, 99-100), Darden and Mylonas (2016, 1447, 1456, de Swaan (1988, 91-92), Gellner (1983, 64), Hechter (2001, 66), Meyer (1977, 70), Ramirez and Boli (1987, 3), and Weber (1976, 331-36, 493-94). sical example of the state's attempt to govern and control private social behavior.…”

No Nation Left Behind? Assessing the Impact of Compulsory Schooling Laws on Immigrant Assimilation

“…find that the there is little heterogeneity by country of origin suggesting that the there is little role for the interaction between prior schooling with national content and the exposure to CSLs (Darden and Mylonas 2016;Darden, Forthcoming).This suggests that while education itself can still change one's sense of national identity in some contexts, the actual implementation of education policy itself creates significant barriers to the efficacy of this set of policies at homogenizing a diverse society. The upshot of these results is that a state's capacity to actu-ally implement policy needs to be taken seriously in determining the scope of nation-building strategies.…”

“…Those advocating this thesis argue that the roll-out of compulsory schooling and mass education would help to shape a common national identity among a diverse population by providing individuals with a common culture in addition to exposing individuals to other individuals in their nation (Weber 1976;Hobsbawm 1990). This idea has not only been applied to the Western experience, but also to countries across the developing world as well (Miguel 2004;Darden and Gryzymala-Busse 2006;Balcells 2013;Darden 2014;Darden and Mylonas 2016;Cantoni et al 2017;Paglayan 2017). While there is a large amount of scholarly work on this subject, a key limitation is that states often times institute education systems precisely in order to change national identity and to change their citizens' values (Bandiera et al, Forthcoming;Paglayan 2017;Alesina, Giuliano, and Reich 2018).…”

“…;Darden and Mylonas 2016;Paglayan 2017;Alesina, Reich, and Riboni 2018). Given the costliness of nationbuilding, central governments should only have an incentive to engage in nation-building when they face some sort of external threat that requires them to mobilize citizens beyond monetary payoffs or an internal threat that requires them to instill loyalty among citizens.…”