Abstract
In recent years, leaders from across a number of countries have come to power aiming to reshape national narratives: collective stories about the nation’s identity, history, and defining characteristics. Through what mechanisms and among whom can leaders transform national narratives? What explains the seemingly fast pace with which ascendant narratives can take hold in a populace, and what consequences do they carry? In this talk, I present theory and evidence on these questions in the Indian context, where a “Nehruvian” national narrative has recently given way to a Hindu nationalist vision of the nation. I explain how elites engage in symbolic politics — altering street names, statues, textbooks, or songs — to promote their preferred narrative, and how their efforts can yield rapid returns where they draw upon pre-existing, latent notions of nationhood. I also discuss sources of resistance to such changes, arguing that subnational narratives that are normatively incongruent with ascendant national narratives constitute a particularly important ideational resource for citizens. Throughout my talk, I also touch upon the consequences of national narratives: for perceptions about who “belongs” to the nation and is entitled to speak on its behalf, for notions of who and what makes a good citizen, and for support for or opposition to the exercise of democratic rights.
Bio
Nicholas Haas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, where he is also a co-PI of the Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination. His research focuses on inter-group inequality, polarization, and conflict: its causes, consequences, and potential instruments of mitigation. His work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, among other outlets, and has been reported on in the Hindustan Times, Ideas for India, and The Washington Post. Much of his research focuses on India, where he spent a year as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar. Nicholas is a co-PI of the first South Asia edition of the Chapel Hill Expert Survey and currently serves as the co-Division APSA Nationalism and Politics Chair.
The event is part of the series South Asia Research Initiative, Autumn 2026.