CEU - Nationalism Studies Program

Upcoming online talk by César Jiménez-Martínez (London School of Economics): Politics and National Promotion: Nation Branding and State Power in Latin America

📆18 March at 4pm (GMT)
🛜 Join via this link (no registration required): https://tinyurl.com/2zdykhhb

The event is organized by the Loughborough University Nationalism Network (LUNN).

Abstract: While literature on nation branding has been dominated by instrumental approaches (e.g. Anholt, 2007), a growing subset of works has critically interrogated this practice (e.g. Aronczyk, 2013; Kaneva, 2023). This latter set of works portrays nation branding as part of a neoliberal takeover that commodifies national identities, and reduces nations to units of economic production, symbolic goods to be traded and its inhabitants as mere consumers rather than citizens. These insights are very relevant but remain tethered to neoliberal rationalities, largely overlooking the political dimensions of nation branding. This paper takes the discussion on a different direction and suggests that approaching nation branding from the perspective of state power can be a more productive framework. Theoretically, it draws on discussions on symbolic power, nationalism, and promotional culture. Empirically, it relies on more than a decade of research on 10 nation-states from Latin America (Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Peru), including interviews, campaign analyses, and news coverage. The examination of these cases reveals that, rather than simply being an instrument of market logics, nation branding is a manifestation of state attempts to monopolise the communication and representation of the nation, consolidating what Maldonado et al (2025) call the ’neoliberal-state''. Nation branding therefore emerges as a highly political practice, entangled with the agendas of domestic elites. Instead of merely being a matter of national ‘images’, nation branding becomes an instrument of partisan struggles, as well as a target of local resistance. Reductionist economic perspectives consequently need to be challenged, in order to approach nation branding as a practice at the intersection of statecraft and stagecraft, opening new avenues for discussions about identity struggles, democracy and symbolic and material inequalities.

Special Issue: Class and Migration: Interrogating Class Across Borders, co-edited by Nationalism Studies Professor Szabolcs Pogonyi.

Latest articles from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Browse the latest articles and research from Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Join our upcoming public lecture with Jelena Đureinović!

📅 March 3, 17:30
📍 CEU Vienna Campus

Centering on the exchanges between Yugoslav Partisans and Front de libération nationale (FLN), the lecture explores the role of memory and war legacies in Yugoslav socialist internationalism and anti-colonial solidarity.

Find out more on the link below:

Globalising the Yugoslav Revolution in the Postcolonial World: Veterans, Memory and Transnational Networks of Solidarity Lecture Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Speaker Jelena Đureinović Centering on the exchanges between Yugoslav Partisans and Front de libération nationale (FLN), the lecture explores the role of memory and war legacies in Yugoslav socialist internationalism and anti-colonial solidarity...

Join our public lecture tomorrow about how sport for development programs can reduce prejudice!

Sport for Development (SfD) programs hold significant potential for prejudice reduction, yet their underlying socio-psychological mechanisms remain under-theorized and insufficiently examined in practice. Drawing on intergroup contact theory, decategorization, and recategorization frameworks, as well as expert interviews from US-based SfD organizations, Borbála Takács explores how cooperation, shared goals, facilitation style, and coach training shape intergroup dynamics, highlighting SfD as a promising applied setting for translating theory into real-world practice.

Find out more information on the link below!

Bridging Theory and Practice: How can Sport for Development Programs reduce Prejudice and fight Racism? Lecture Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Speaker Borbála Takács How can socio-psychological theories move from textbooks to real life? And what happens when we put them into practice – do they live up to expectations? Sport for Development (SfD) programs hold significant potential...

Don't forget to register to our public lecture with Yossi Harpaz!

Ethnic migration – preferential immigration granted to co-ethnics abroad – is widespread, but its drivers remain poorly understood and may differ from “ordinary” migration. This talk examines a paradigmatic case: Jewish aliyah (ethnic migration) to Israel under the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to members of the Jewish diaspora. Using annual data on aliyah from the 22 largest Jewish communities (2000–2023), Harpaz estimates how economic and political conditions in origin countries predict changes in aliyah rates.

The event is co-organized with the CEU Jewish Studies Program. Find more information and register on the link below!

Ethnic Migration and Political Risk: What Drives Jewish Aliyah to Israel? Lecture Thursday, February 26, 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Speaker Yossi Harpaz Ethnic migration – preferential immigration granted to co-ethnics abroad – is widespread, but its drivers remain poorly understood and may differ from “ordinary” migration. This paper examines a paradigmatic case: ...

Join our upcoming public lecture with Jelena Đureinović!

Centering on the exchanges between Yugoslav Partisans and Front de libération nationale (FLN), the lecture explores the role of memory and war legacies in Yugoslav socialist internationalism and anti-colonial solidarity.

Find out more on the link below!

Globalising the Yugoslav Revolution in the Postcolonial World: Veterans, Memory and Transnational Networks of Solidarity Lecture Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Speaker Jelena Đureinović Centering on the exchanges between Yugoslav Partisans and Front de libération nationale (FLN), the lecture explores the role of memory and war legacies in Yugoslav socialist internationalism and anti-colonial solidarity...

How can socio-psychological theories move from textbooks to real life? And what happens when we put them into practice – do they live up to expectations?

These are the questions Borbála Takács aims to answer in her project presentation on February 24, where she will also share insights from her work at KacsaKő Association, a nonprofit based in Hungary that brings together children and youth from different social backgrounds.

Find out more information on the link below!

Bridging Theory and Practice: How can Sport for Development Programs reduce Prejudice and fight Racism? Lecture Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Speaker Borbála Takács How can socio-psychological theories move from textbooks to real life? And what happens when we put them into practice – do they live up to expectations? Sport for Development (SfD) programs hold significant potential...

Public lecture by Yossi Harpaz, co-organized with the CEU Jewish Studies Program:

Ethnic migration – preferential immigration granted to co-ethnics abroad – is widespread, but its drivers remain poorly understood and may differ from “ordinary” migration. This talk examines a paradigmatic case: Jewish aliyah (ethnic migration) to Israel under the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to members of the Jewish diaspora. Using annual data on aliyah from the 22 largest Jewish communities (2000–2023), Harpaz estimates how economic and political conditions in origin countries predict changes in aliyah rates.

Find out more on the link below and register!

Ethnic Migration and Political Risk: What Drives Jewish Aliyah to Israel? Lecture Thursday, February 26, 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Speaker Yossi Harpaz Ethnic migration – preferential immigration granted to co-ethnics abroad – is widespread, but its drivers remain poorly understood and may differ from “ordinary” migration. This paper examines a paradigmatic case: ...

Apply now to our Summer University course, organized by Nationalism Studies faculty Szabolcs Pogonyi and Jelena Dzankic from the European University Institute!

The main aim of the summer course "Contestations of citizenship in times of global democratic backsliding" is to examine if, when and how citizenship regimes are used by authoritarian and illiberal governments as a means of weakening the rights of undesired populations and to include targeted groups to strengthening the legitimacy and the power of the government. In addition to exploring citizenship policies at the time of democratic decline, the course will also investigate the micro-politics of citizenship by looking into how individuals use, respond to, hijack or ignore these policies. Throughout the course, cases from developed countries will be discussed along with cases from the Global South including India, the Middle East and South America.

The application deadline is March 1. More information on the link below.

Contestations of Citizenship in Times of Global Democratic Backsliding | CEU summer course Image Course date July 6–10, 2026 Location Budapest Application deadline March 01, 2026 For all applicants April 15, 2026 For all applicants except for those applying for scholarship and/or visa ECTS Credits 2.0 Course delivery In-person SUN Packages Fee-Paying Tuition Waiver Partial Scholarship F...

Apply now to our Summer University course, organized by Nationalism Studies faculty Szabolcs Pogonyi and Jelena Dzankic from the European University Institute!

The main aim of the summer course "Contestations of citizenship in times of global democratic backsliding" is to examine if, when and how citizenship regimes are used by authoritarian and illiberal governments as a means of weakening the rights of undesired populations and to include targeted groups to strengthening the legitimacy and the power of the government. In addition to exploring citizenship policies at the time of democratic decline, the course will also investigate the micro-politics of citizenship by looking into how individuals use, respond to, hijack or ignore these policies. Throughout the course, cases from developed countries will be discussed along with cases from the Global South including India, the Middle East and South America.

The application deadline is March 1. More information on the link below.

Contestations of Citizenship in Times of Global Democratic Backsliding | CEU summer course Image Course date July 6–10, 2026 Location Budapest Application deadline March 01, 2026 For all applicants April 15, 2026 For all applicants except for those applying for scholarship and/or visa ECTS Credits 2.0 Course delivery In-person SUN Packages Fee-Paying Tuition Waiver Partial Scholarship F...

The CEU Jewish Studies Program organizes another walking tour soon - this time in Leopoldstadt, Vienna's II. district. We will visit former major religious sites, places of social life, spaces of persecution, and sites of social and political activism.

📅Monday, 3 November 13:00

More information and registration on the link below:

Walking Tour: Jewish Vienna - Leopoldstadt Meet Up Monday, November 3, 2025, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm The CEU Jewish Studies program invites everyone to join us in our walking tour through the historic and current heart of the Jewish community in Vienna, the II. district, Leopoldstadt. We will visit former major religious sites, places of social ...