Dictators War and Revolution Week 3 Nationalism: What is Nationalism?

What is Nationalism? A political doctrine or ideology Social and Political Movement As an ideology there is no easy definition Unlike most other political ideologies there is no clear founding theorist for nationalism No classical text which others can refer to or argue about

Nationalism as an ideology Ernest Gelner: “Nationalism is primarily a political principle, which holds that the political and the national should be congruent” One of its claims that “nations” have existed throughout time or for at least hundreds of years The invocation of history is central to the whole nationalism view of the world

Nationalism as an ideology The political ideology of nationalism itself is of more recent origin – latter part of the 18th century/first part of the 19th century The word “nation” or equivalent words in other traditions have existed for many centuries, describing what today would be called tribes, peoples, groups of subjects

Nationalism as an ideology For instance: Greek word “nation” (έθνος) in antiquity = a group of living beings Medieval period=paganism, non Orthodox Christians After the 15th century Christian Orthodox regardless of their ethnic origin After the establishment of the Greek state = a member of the Greek Orthodox Church and user of Greek language

Nationalism as a Movement The first phase of nationalism is associated with the Enlightenment Idea that a group of people have a certain set of shared interests and should be allowed to express their wishes on how these interests should best be promoted Derived from the ancient Greek idea of the polis (=political community) Most influentially expressed by Jean Jacque Rousseau and laid the basis for a modern idea of democracy and the legitimacy of majority rule

Nationalism as a movement The Second phase of nationalism – French Revolution The opponents of the French monarch called themselves “la nation” (=the nation): The community of all French irrespective of status and social background Here the concept of nation expressed the idea of a shared, common, equal citizenship

Nationalism as a Movement In North and South America: In North America revolt against the British rule (1776-1883) In South America uprising against the Spanish rule (1820-8) In both cases the basis of the revolt = political, i.e. rejection of rule from imperial centers of Europe by a group of people, drawn from a similar ethnic and linguistic backgrounds to those they were rejecting, but opposed the rights of self determination of the community they represented

Nationalism as a Movement Third and final phase of nationalism – the German romantic idea of Volk or people, a community based not on political identity but on history, tradition and culture Promoted by thinkers such as Herder and Fichte Humanity was divided up into separate peoples whose distinctiveness and identity could be discovered through investigation

Nationalism as a Movement Out of combination of these three trends there emerged by the early 19th century the political ideology we recognize today as nationalism One of those who most vigorously expressed it was the Italian Giuseppe Mazzini Nations were a given, with their national territory and should enjoy independence. Mazzini: Each individual not only belongs to a nation, but also owes the nation unquestionable obedience

Nationalism as a Movement Earlier concepts of patriotism, loyalty, identification with the community became part of the modern system of nation-states Family of nations: If the world was divided up into nations, then they could through identification and self-determination, be encouraged to acquire independence

Nationalism as a Movement Nationalism has spread across the whole world early 19th century Europe World War I: Four big empires collapsed and a map of newly independent states was created. In Western Europe a fifth multi-national entity was forced to concede independence to one of its rebellious regions – British Empire granted independence to Ireland in 1921

Nationalism as a Movement World War I: National self-determination was proclaimed as universal principle in radical revolutionary form – Bolshevik revolution in Russia (1917) And in liberal form by President Woodrow Wilson of the USA (1918) Self-determination came increasingly to be associated with full independence.

Nationalism as a Movement End of World War I seemed to be the era of national self-determination was at hand. However this was not the case for the following reasons: 1) European colonial powers refused to allow the subject peoples of Asia and Africa to attain independence. Only after World War II started granting independence to their Third World colonies (1950s and 1960s)

Nationalism as a Movement 2) Nationalism did not lead to peace between states but to conflict, dictatorship and in the end World War Peoples in the sense of communities with one language and religion, were often mixed up with each other, or had competing historical claims 3) There is no finality in the definition and formation of nations. This evident in the developed world in Western Europe and the USA where from 1960s onwards new demands for national self-determination

Nationalism as a Movement Nationalism for the past two centuries has been the moral basis for the system of states It has both legitimated states and has been promoted by states as part of nation-building Nationalism has been the justification for secession and territorial claims Nationalism closely relates to the incident of war

Conclusion Nationalism remains an important part of relations between states and also of the domestic politics of many countries Expectations of disappearance of nationalism over the past century and a half were mistaken Nationalism is a response to the new international context; in part benefiting from resentment at globalization, in part adjusting those parts of its programme that are no longer so relevant

Next Week Liberalism and Democracy Thank you for your attention!