Walker Connor

{{Short description|American political scientist (1926–2017)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Walker Connor

| image =

| caption =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|6|19}}

| birth_place = South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|2|28|1926|6|19}}

| death_place = Mount Holly, Vermont

| education = B.A., University of Massachusetts Amherst M.A., Ph.D., Georgetown University

| occupation = Political Scientist

| title = Distinguished Visiting Professor

| employer = Middlebury College

}}

Walker F. Connor (June 19, 1926 – February 28, 2017) was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont, USA). Connor is best known for his work on nationalism, and is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies.{{cite web|title=WALKER CONNOR Obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=184412022|work=The New York Times|accessdate=11 April 2017}}

Before the collapse of European communism that began in the late 1980s, nationalism was not a subject of significant academic study and was generally neglected,{{citation needed|date=September 2011}} with the exception of some major contributions by authors such as Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson, and Anthony D. Smith.{{cite book|last=Gellner|first=Ernest|title=Nations and Nationalism|publisher=Blackwell|year=2005|edition=Second|isbn=1-4051-3442-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jl7t2yMfxwIC}}{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Benedict|title=Imagined Communities|publisher=Verso|location=London|year=1991|edition=Second|isbn=0-86091-546-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mmoZFtCpuoC}}{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Anthony D.|title=Theories of Nationalism|publisher=Duckworth|edition=Second|location=London|year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLMZAAAAMAAJ|isbn=0-7156-0584-4}} Connor’s work is another exception to this rule, and today he is regarded as “one of the scholars of nationalism and ethnic conflict who has contributed most towards establishing a conceptual grounding” for the study of nationalism.{{Cite book|first=Daniele|last=Conversi|contribution=Conceptualizing nationalism: An introduction to Walker Connor’s work|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0-415-33273-7|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|page=1}}

Widely cited for his insistence on the inherently ethnic character of nationalism, which he calls ethnonationalism to emphasize the point, Connor has long held that the most significant obstacle to advancing the study of nationalism is terminological imprecision. Particularly problematic, he contends, is the tendency to conflate the distinct concepts of state and nation, as well as the respective concepts of patriotism and nationalism which derive from them.{{Cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding|location=Princeton, New Jersey|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgineq0r3MC|isbn=0-691-02563-0}}

Another significant theme in Connor's work is the passionate, nonrational character of nationalism. When trying to understand national sentiment, he argues, the key is not chronological or factual history, but sentient or felt history. National identity is based on the emotional psychology of perceived kinship ties – a sense of the nation as the fully extended family – and accordingly belongs to the realm of the subconscious and nonrational.Connor, Ethnonationalism, 202-03.

Finally, Connor is also well known for his analysis of Marxist-Leninist treatments of nationalism, which he deals with at length in his book The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy.{{cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|year=1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1HHgAACAAJ|isbn=0-691-07655-3}}