Since the end of the 18th century nationalism has played an important role in the history of Europe.
The protagonists of nationalism, assembled in national movements, were involved in the construction of nations and national identity, contributing both to the constitution and the dissolution of states. Even today nationalism is a complex phenomenon that exerts an important influence on the cultural and political evolution of Europe.
Research into national movements has multiplied considerably. However, the theoretical background of these writings often is not sufficiently based on the results of empirical research. Moreover, case studies are often carried out without a contextual or comparative dimension and researchers from other linguistic regions or specialised in other national movements often remain unaware of the results, although national movements are in fact pre-eminently transnational. In addition much information on the sources for the study of national movements is based on uncontrolled data, which are not presented in a systematic manner.
Moreover, national movements consist of private citizens. They operated and campaigned by means of clubs, associations, organisations… The private character of most archival sources on the subject constitutes a serious drawback for their collection, disclosure and conservation, so that many sources are at risk of being lost forever.
The present heuristic situation for research into national movements in Europe therefore leaves much to be desired. There is a clear need for the central (digital) collection and processing of research results and of data concerning the relevant sources, in order to enable comparative studies on the subject.
However, until today no coordinated effort has been undertaken on a European level to deal with information about the national movements in Europe in a scientific and consistent manner: to collect, conserve, or make information available for research or to make a systematic inventory in a single database of the data according to their sources.
The NISE project, National movements & Intermediary Structures in Europe, wants to remedy this situation. NISE is a scientific, heuristic, historiographic and archival project concerning national movements in Europe. It is to collect, structure and control data about national movements in Europe during the last two centuries. Moreover, the relevant research needs to have ‘authority files’ at its disposal, which supply the sources in a structured and accessible way. The public should have free access to consult this information, which will enable comparative research. Mapping out personal and institutional relations between national movements will enable researchers to study the political and cultural transfers.