Is nationalism a negative or a positive force? PDF

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Is nationalism a negative or a positive force?...

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Is nationalism a negative or a positive force? Nationalism is a deeply controversial topic that cannot be classified as a single ideology, per many political theorists. Barbara Goodwin calls it a ‘chameleon [which] takes on different forms’1, whilst Barrie Axford claims it is a ‘disputed but undeniable potent ideology’ that has developed in several different ways, ‘(epitomising) the general trait of adaptability’.2 So how do we define this concept of nationalism, and the main question is: is it good or bad for us as a society? Is it a positive or negative force in the global political scene? In this essay, I will try to answer these questions, attempt to identify the main positives and negatives of nationalism, and evaluate on its impact today. First, it is important to be able to understand how nationalism was defined and developed. Many political theorists agree that the main form of nationalism first emerged in the 18 th century, where Johann Gottfried Herder defined nationalism as a force in which people connected through five main ideas: language, character, territory, political agenda, and formative influence. 3 From this definition of nationalism, it has developed in multiple pathways throughout modern history between the 18th century and today. From the liberal nationalism in the French Revolution in 1789 and 19th century Europe, to the imperialist nationalism in late 19 th century Britain, the fascist post World War 1 nationalism in Germany and the anti-colonial nationalism in Asia and Africa after World War 2,4 nationalism has diverged widely and has lodged itself deeply into several different ideologies, and thus it is difficult to define and yet has been integral in modern day societies. I will first make my argument on nationalism being a positive force. For many, nationalism is a way to gain a clear sense of national identity and self-respect through the bonds of organic forces fashioned by the culture or history of the territory, leading to a national self-affirmation in the form of cultural nationalism. Here, people with similar cultural values and lifestyle, along with a shared history and language creates a very strong cultural component giving national coherence.5 This brand of nationalism tends to form communities which are stable and cohesive as the historical sense of national unity is very powerful when manifested in the form of a shared culture. It also serves as a way to preserve such cultures, as Ernest Gellner states in his 1983 book Nations and Nationalism that nationalism ‘(averts) cultural breakdown…by states constructing national identities based on linguistic identities for their own purposes of selflegitimisation’.6 We can see this through many stable and established mono-linguistic nations 1 Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 282 2 Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 279 3 Patten, Alan. ‘The Most Natural State’: Herder and Nationalism. History of Political Thought. Vol. 31, 4th ed. 2010, pp.667, https://www.princeton.edu/~apatten/herder.pdf 4 Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 279 5 Axtmann, Roland. Understanding Democratic politics. SAGE Publications, 2003, pp. 272 6 Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 280

around the world, for instance China, where everyone in China shares the Mandarin language and cultural views, like being filial to one’s parents. Furthermore, nationalism can create political communities which can bind people who do not share cultural values or history. This can be done through national symbols like flags or anthems to give a mental image of a common national identity through political nationalism. 7 By enhancing this through public education, mass media and political socialisation, the sense of belonging and national pride can be manifested in people who have different cultural backgrounds and beliefs which cannot form organic communities. This is best illustrated in Singapore, where the Singaporean government uses a multitude of ways, like public school curriculum or national service, to bind together the 4 main cultural ethnicities: Chinese, Malay, Tamil and European. In Singapore, these 4 cultural groups form their own local communities separately, but the government manages to instil national unity in all 4 communities to accept a common Singaporean identity. By accepting a common set of goals and principles, tolerant and democratic societies can be created that are willing to take in numerous cultures and ethnicities, promoting harmonious multi-cultural communities. More importantly, nationalism is a very powerful emancipating force that brought people towards a common goal of liberation, first against imperialist rule in the 18th and 19th century, in the form of liberal nationalism.8 Here, it gives the people power to free themselves of artificial imperial collections and organically form communities. Liberal nationalism bases itself on the fundamental assumption that ‘people are naturally divided into nations possessing separate identities’,9 and hence should have a right to freedom and self-determination. In this form, nationalism serves as a mechanism to secure peace and a stable world by promoting political freedoms,10 and this attempts to build genuine solidarity between democratic nations.11 This is clearly shown during the 19th and 20th century when European empires started breaking up into various nation-states, as the people wanted new freedoms and self-governance through a democratic system they appeal to rather than a foreign imperial monarchy. For instance, Poles and Hungarians broke off from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to form Poland and Hungary respectively, not wanting to be subordinated to an Austrian emperor but rather their own national governments. Here, nationalism turns into a force that promotes unity within every nation, and when every nation reaches its end-goal of national liberty, it can promote cooperation amongst nations based on mutual respect for national rights and characteristics, for instance the League of Nations or the modern-day United Nations. In a very similar case of nationalism being a liberalising force, it appears during 19 th and 20th centuries when the various colonies of the European empires began to attempt to liberate themselves from their colonial masters, and nationalism turned into an anti-colonial form. Here, 7 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 113 8 Axtmann, Roland. Understanding Democratic politics. SAGE Publications, 2003, pp. 272 9 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 116 10 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 117 11 Axtmann, Roland. Understanding Democratic politics. SAGE Publications, 2003, pp. 272

nationalism forges a sense of nationhood shaped by the desire for national liberation, to have political independence for social development and to bring an end to subordination.12 For instance, without this anti-colonial nationalism, India would remain a colony being exploited by the British without a common goal of liberation amongst their massive and diverse population. By instilling this form of nationalism amongst the Indian people, Gandhi convinced the population to gain independence from the British and have a self-determining government in 1949. I believe this to be a positive force as anti-colonial nationalism drives the colonies to achieve their own future, in which places like Singapore can never hope to attain their current economic prosperity without breaking away from the British Empire. However, amongst already established nations, nationalism can serve as a defence for its values and institutions that is endorsed by history, and promises social cohesion and public order through the embodiment of national patriotism.13 This emerges from the desire of people to gravitate towards others with similar lifestyles and views, which links back to cultural nationalism above. Even so, as this form of nationalism is inward-looking and insular, it turns into a form of conservative nationalism, to conserve the cultural or political identity in the nation. It is mainly this nationalism that binds people together to ‘maintain the levels of cooperation and generosity’ within their own society,14 and the values and institutions that constitutes to the national identity will need to be conserved and defended from external factors. This can be seen in many countries worldwide today, like the example given in Paul Colliers’ article on Social Europe, where Danes that share the national identity of being Danish will obviously be more generous and giving towards their fellow Danes compared to Australians.15 Finally, nationalism that takes an aggressive and expansionist form can provide a voice and become a vehicle for the alienated and powerless to gain national pride and self-respect. 16 This is because expansionist nationalism comes from the sentiment of intense national enthusiasm, which can be a positive force, considering that this may be the only way to maintain social unity amongst the lower classes of the social ladder. By instilling an intense national identity, even the ones who are detracted from society can still achieve a sense of belonging to the nation. An example of nationalism taking on this form can be found in the recent campaign rhetoric of Donald Trump. Although his campaign was very controversial, he instilled national pride and allowed the people of the poorer states and rural areas, who have been isolated from the modern economic prosperity in America, to have a political voice and regain their self-respect and respect for the political system. Despite all these positives of nationalism taking form, it may be possible that nationalism is a larger net negative to global politics and history. An obvious negative of nationalism is in 12 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 122 13 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 118 14 Collier, Paul. “Good and Bad Nationalism”. Social Europe, 2015. https://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/03/nationalism/ 15 Collier, Paul. “Good and Bad Nationalism”. Social Europe, 2015. https://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/03/nationalism/ 16 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 120

expansionist nationalism, where the aggressiveness can lead to militaristic desires, and war becomes a testing ground for expansionist nationalism. 17 This may be the chief reason Barbara Goodwin argues that it is a ‘consensus amongst Western thinkers that nationalism is an undesirable phenomenon’.18 This radical form of nationalism is based on the explicit rejection of democratic ideals,19 and it will lead to national chauvinism: the irrational belief in national superiority that fuses nationalism and racism through doctrines of racial or ethnic superiority to form a devastating combination of both a combative attitude towards other nations and a repressive attitude to its own minorities.20 21 An example of this form of nationalism would be Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany during World War 2, where he utilises expansionist nationalism to wage war across Europe, invading multiple European nations and promote anti-Semitism against Jews alongside the cleansing of other minorities like homosexuals, Romanis and the Slavs in the Holocaust. Another view in which nationalism is a destructive force can be found in the Marxist definition. Marx saw nation states as the key role for securing markets and centralising communications, and nationalism is the ideology to justify this developing capitalism. Lenin saw nationalism as an imperialist movement to promote economic development to sustain capitalism, and as such they come into conflict with other nation states for resources to continue this. 22 Thus, nationalism and ever-developing capitalism became the key reason for imperial wars. An example to this testimony would be Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931 to secure more agricultural land to keep up with their population growth. As Japan has limited land for food but had a booming population at that time, they were concerned of not being self-sufficient and therefore looked towards the resource-rich Manchuria as a solution. A less extreme form of the aggressive nationalism seen above would be the nostalgic and backwards looking nature of conservative nationalism. It is due to this insistence of values and institutions that may lead to elite manipulation where political elites artificially invent nations to manufacture consent or engineer political passivity amongst the population.23 Furthermore, this insular form of nationalism may lead to intolerance and bigotry to any outsider that does not hold the same values, which promotes racism and xenophobia. It essentially blurs the line between race or culture and nation, where the people supports exclusivity and acceptance can only come by having an inherited race or ethnic culture.24 This would be the negative side of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, fanning racist and xenophobic opinions towards his voters and the American public, which in turn leads to the disruption of the harmonious multi-ethnic community and the cultural tolerance that exists in the United States. The consequences of such 17 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 120 18 Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 298 19 Axtmann, Roland. Understanding Democratic politics. SAGE Publications, 2003, pp. 272 20 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 121 21 Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 298 22 Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 280 23 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 119 24 Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 111

nationalism in effect: the possible breakup of communities and the proliferation of illiberal and intolerant regimes,25 may be very dire for those who envision a stable and peaceful world order that promotes acceptance of all forms of cultures and ethnicities globally. In addition, nationalism can lead to people holding irrational beliefs that may cause countless lives. Not only is this shown through the aggressive nationalism explained above, but also during many anti-colonial movements and secession attempts from a larger community that are both fuelled by nationalism. Bryan Caplan summarises this point in his article: ‘nationalism… convinced people…that squares of multi-coloured cloth are worth killing for’. 26 This can be shown most appropriately in Africa, where nationalistic independence movements only descended into tribalism, which is a strong sense of belonging to one’s own tribe and intense hatred for another. For instance, once the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, it was mired in political instability and civil wars until today. Nationalism can also lead to many unnecessary deaths during secessionist wars in which people desire independence to form a separate nation of self-governance. This can be shown through the Yugoslavian breakup in the 1990s, which was a series of secessionist wars mired in uprisings and conflict, and directly lead to the Serb-Bosnian wars soon after where the expansionist form of nationalism took hold, causing genocide and even more lives. Today, globalisation promotes nationalism but also inspires cultural resistance and opposition.27 This is argued in Anthony Giddens’ book Beyond Left and Right in 1994: “the revival of local nationalisms, and an accentuating of local identities, are directly bound up with globalising influences, to which they stand in opposition”.28 However, the trend seems to be that globalisation increasingly threatens nationalism, as technological advances hands over the policing of world peace to supranational bodies like the UN, and that an ever-growing transnational global culture weakens national cultures which are a main source of national cohesion and identity. For example, American culture has assimilated into Asian societies like South Korea making them more Westernised, coexisting and possibly replacing the original Korean culture in this modern day and age. However, nationalism has mainly manifested into a political opposition to current political systems and globalisation, which is a negative considering it threatens global peace and stability. John Breuilly concluded that ‘nationalism is a modern device for resolving the eternal conflict between the state…and society, (but) it is the most convenient form for opposition to the state’. 29 For the individuals and groups who want to oppose the state and the institutions, nationalism seems to be the most popular way. Ed Fuller writes in Forbes in his article: ‘Everywhere we look global institutions and frameworks are under attack’ due to nationalism or nationalistic 25 Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 299 26 Caplan, Bryan. “Colonialism and Anti-colonialism: Blame Nationalism for Both”. Library of Economics and Liberty, 2014, http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/01/colonialism_and.html 27 Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 281 28 Giddens, Anthony. Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994, pp. 5. 29 Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 285

movements.30 Recent examples are abundant, the election of Trump in America leading to instability in global organisations like NATO and international relations like Mexico, Great Britain’s exit from the European Union leading to economic and political uncertainty in Europe, or the democratic protests against China in Hong Kong caused by a cultural nationalistic movement. In conclusion, is nationalism a net positive or negative force? The positives of nationalism are extremely powerful in bringing people together through a multitude of ways to promote global peace and stability, but the other end of the spectrum also brings about disastrous strife and global conflict. I believe that nationalism is usually a positive force when kept in check and maintained at a level where cohesion is promoted with the purpose of unity. It is extremely easy for this positive nationalism to overflow into a rampant form where cohesion is promoted for repression or domination. Therefore, governments of nation states must deftly handle this delicate balance where nationalism affects national emotions and enthusiasm. If not, a peaceful and stable national coherence that respects other nations’ identities will turn into an aggressive and dominating one, and this will affect both international relations and local communities in an equally devastating fashion.

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30 Fuller, Ed. “Nationalism: Back Again Like a Bad Dream”. Forbes, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/edfuller/2016/04/15/nationalism-back-again-like-a-bad-dream/#3efb0eca2b8c

Bibliography 

Axford, Barrie. Politics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002, pp. 279-281

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Axtmann, Roland. Understanding Democratic politics. SAGE Publications, 2003, pp. 272

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Caplan, Bryan. “Colonialism and Anti-colonialism: Blame Nationalism for Both”. Library of Economics and Liberty, 2014, http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/01/colonialism_and.html

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Collier, Paul. “Good and Bad Nationalism”. Social Europe, 2015. https://www.socialeurope.eu/2015/03/nationalism/

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Fuller, Ed. “Nationalism: Back Again Like a Bad Dream”. Forbes, 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/edfuller/2016/04/15/nationalism-back-again-like-a-baddream/#3efb0eca2b8c

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Giddens, Anthony. Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994, pp. 5.

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Goodwin, Barbara. Using Political Ideas. 6th ed., Wiley, 2014, pp. 282, 285, 298-299

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Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 111, 113, 116-122

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Patten, Alan. ‘The Most Natural State’: Herder and Nationalism. History of Political Thought. Vol....