ADITYA KUMAR

BA LLB(REGULAR) 1st SEMESTER

POLITICAL SCIENCE I
20185688

NATIONALISM
Nationalism is a political, social, and economic system characterized by the promotion of the
interests of a particular nation, especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining sovereignty
over the homeland. The political ideology of nationalism holds that a nation should govern
itself, free from outside interference and is linked to the concept of self-determination.
Nationalism is further oriented towards developing and maintaining a national identity based
on shared, social characteristics, such as culture and language, religion and politics, and a belief
in a common ancestry Nationalism, therefore, seeks to preserve a nation's culture, by way of
pride in national achievements, and is closely linked to patriotism, which, in some cases,
includes the belief that the nation should control the country's government and the means of
production. Nationalism centers on a country’s culture, language, and often race. It may also
include shared literature, sports, or arts, but is primarily driven by cultural associations. And it
promotes the nation at the expenses of others. Nationalist countries or leaders don’t join
international organization or associations and maintain a superior view of themselves to
detriment of other nations. Nationalism has a positive view of conquering other nations as it
sees itself as the ultimate nation. Any ideologies that undercut or contradict the nation are
opposed. Nationalism in its extreme form has led to genocides, the holocaust, and, more
specifically the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia in 1990’s

HISTORY
Nationalism has been a recurring facet of civilizations since ancient times, though the modern
sense of national political autonomy and self-determination was formalized in the late 18th
century. Examples of nationalist movements can be found throughout history, from
the revolt of the 1st and 2nd centuries, to the re-emergence of Persian culture during
the period of Persia, to the re-emergence of Latin culture in the Western roman empire during
the 4th and 5th centuries, as well as many others. In modern times, examples can be seen in
the emergence of German nationalism as a reaction against Napoleonic control of Germany as
the Conferadition of rime around 1805–14. Linda colley in Britons, Forging the Nation 1707–
1837 (Yale University Press, 1992) explores how the role of nationalism emerged about 1700
and developed in Britain reaching full form in the 1830s. Typically historians of nationalism in
Europe begin with the French revolution (1789), not only for its impact on French
nationalism but even more for its impact on Germans and Italians and on European
intellectuals. The template of nationalism, as a method for mobilising public opinion around a
new state based on popular sovereignty, went back further than 1789: philosophers such
as rousseau and Voltaire, whose ideas influenced the French Revolution, had themselves been
influenced or encouraged by the example of earlier constitutionalist liberation movements,
notably the Corsican republic (1755-68) and American revolution (1765-83). Due to
the industrial revolution, there was an emergence of an integrated, nation-encompassing
economy and a national public sphere, where the British people began to identify with the
country at large, rather than the smaller units of their province, town or family. The early
emergence of a popular patriotic nationalism took place in the mid-18th century, and was
actively promoted by the British government and by the writers and intellectuals of the
time. national symbol, anthems, myths, flags and narratives were assiduously constructed by
nationalists and widely adopted. The union jack was adopted in 1801 as the national one.
Thomas arne composed the patriotic song "rule Britannia" in 1740,]and the cartoonist john
Arbuthnot invented the character of john bull as the personification of the English national
spirit in 1712.

TYPES OF NATIONALISM
Many scholars argue that there is more than one type of nationalism. Nationalism may
manifest itself as part of official state ideology or as a popular (non-state) movement
and may be expressed along civic, ethnic, cultural, religious or ideological lines. These
self-definitions of the nation are used to classify types of nationalism. However, such
categories are not mutually exclusive and many nationalist movements combine some
or all of these elements to varying degrees. Nationalist movements can also be
classified by other criteria, such as scale and location.

NATIONALISM TODAY

Despite the reversal suffered by it in recent years, nationalism continues to thrive and remain dominant
all over the world. The main reason for this is that no doctrine or system devised to substitute
nationalism has proved successful and viable. Capitalism could not and cannot become a substitute
primarily because this system is itself anchored on the nation state. It has been consolidated and
strengthened by the nation states, and even though it has now assumed transnational proportions, it
continues to seek the assistance of the nation states to expand and pursuits inherent objective of profit
and rent seeking. In recent years, whenever capitalism has faced crisis mainly because of market
failures, the nation state has come to its rescue. Nor could nationalism be substituted by socialist
internationalism which, in fact, remained an aspiration and could never become a reality. All
socialist states during the post-second world war period have been essentially nationalist. China
is the quintessential example of this. Despite its socialist objectives, programmers and
trappings, this country has ruthlessly pursued its nationalist ambition of territorial expansion,
aggrandizement and aggression. The USSR was supposed to transcend nationalism, as no nation
is mentioned under this nomenclature. however, nationalism survived in almost all component
republics under the umbrella of the union. Besides this territorial-political entity lasted for a
relatively short period in the history.

NATIONALISM IN THE PAST

Historically, nationalism has used the economic, political, and cultural spheres as means to
promote the wellbeing and superiority of a given nation over that of all others. Nationalism was
first used in the 18th century as a common way to define and promote a nation according
to "ethnographic principles." Although the Roman empire and the holy roman empire had some
nationalistic aspects, they were much more in favour of a so-called "world-state," spanning nations
under one banner. By the 18th and 19th centuries, however, the French and American revolutions
sparked a new age of nationalism that promoted a unified nation and its political and economic interests
- namely, capitalism. While Europe was in a state of political and ideological war with those like Jean-
Jacques Rousseau and Napoleon shaping nationalist ideals in France and Otto von Bismarck unifying
Germany in 1871, nationalism began taking on stronger implications. And, alongside the strong sense of
national identity came the more dangerous ideas of racial and national superiority. Fascist regimes like
those of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler used the economic and political turmoil of the early
20th century to subjugate individualism to the needs of the nation by banking on national identity and
tradition. Most notably perhaps is the nationalism exhibited during World War II by the Nazi party in
Germany. Hitler's Nazi party hinged on the ideals of the superiority of the Aryan race and the German
people supposed cultural, intellectual, and militaristic supremacy to all other nations. The Allied nations
were ultimately successful in stamping out the nationalist threat from countries like Italy and Germany,
but the rise of global organizations to combat nationalism, like the United Nations, have come with their
own problems.

NATIONALISM V/S PATRIOTISM

Nationalism and patriotism both show relationship of an individual towards his/her nation. The
two are often confused and frequently believed to be the same thing. However, there is vast
difference between the both. Nationalism means to give more importance to unity by way of
cultural background including language and heritage. Patriotism pertains to the love for nation,
with more emphasis on values and beliefs. When talking about nationalism, one cannot avoid the
famous quotation by George Orwell, “who said that nationalism is the worst enemy of peace”.
According to him, nationalism is feeling that one’s country is superior to another in all respects,
while patriotism is merely a feeling of admiration for way of life. These concepts show that
patriotism is passive by nature and nationalism can belittle aggressive. Patriotism is based on
affection and nationalism is rooted in rivalry and resentment. One can say that nationalism is
militant by nature and patriotism is based on peace. Most nationalist assume that their country is
better than any other, whereas patriots believe that their country is one of the best and can be
improved in many ways. Patriots tend to believe in friendly relations with other countries while
nationalists don’t. In patriotism, people all over the world are considered equal but nationalism
implies that only the people belonging to one’s own country should be considered one’s equal. A
patriotic person tends to tolerate criticism and tries to learn new from it, but a nationalist cannot
tolerate any criticism and considers it as an insult.

1
Merriam- Webster dictionary
Wikipedia - Nationalism