Nationalism

What are nations? What is the difference between a nation-state and nationalism? What are nationalism's core ideas? Does nationalism promote xenophobia? These are all important questions you are likely to encounter in your political studies. In this article, we will help answer these questions as we explore nationalism in greater detail.

Political Nationalism: definition

Nationalism is an ideology based on the concept that a person's loyalty and devotion to the nation or the state takes precedence over any individual or group interest. For nationalists, the nation goes first.

But what exactly is a nation?

Dictionary definition of nationalism, Dreamstime.

The development of Nationalism

The development of nationalism as a political ideology underwent three stages.

Stage 1: nationalism first emerged in the late eighteenth century in Europe during the French Revolution, where hereditary monarchy and loyalty to a ruler were rejected. During this period, people went from being subjects of the crown to citizens of a nation. As a result of the growing nationalism in France, many other European regions adopted nationalist ideals, for example, Italy and Germany.

Stage 2: the period between the First and Second World Wars.

Stage 3: the end of the Second World War and the subsequent period of decolonisation.

Stage 4: the fall of communism at the end of the Cold War.

The importance of nationalism

As one of the most successful and compelling political ideologies, nationalism has shaped and reshaped world history for over two hundred years. By the turn of the nineteenth century and with the fall of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, nationalism had begun to redraw Europe's landscape.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, nationalism had become a popular movement, with the proliferation of flags, national anthems, patriotic literature, and public ceremonies. Nationalism became the language of mass politics.

The core ideas of Nationalism

To give you a better understanding of nationalism, we will now explore some of the most important components of nationalism.

Nations

As we discussed above, nations are communities of people who identify themselves as part of a group based on shared characteristics like language, culture, religion, or geography.

Self-determination

Self-determination is the right of a nation to choose its own government. When we apply the concept of self-determination to individuals, this can take the form of independence and autonomy. The American Revolution (1775–83) serves as a good example of self-determination.

During this period, Americans wanted to govern themselves independently, free from British rule. They viewed themselves as a nation separate and distinct from Britain and therefore sought to govern themselves according to their own national interests.

Nation-state

A nation-state is a nation of people who govern themselves on their own sovereign territory. The nation-state is a result of self-determination. Nation-states connect national identity with that of statehood.

Culturalism

Culturalism refers to a society based on shared cultural values and ethnicity. Culturalism is common in nations that have a distinctive culture, religion, or language. Culturalism can also be strong when a cultural group feels as if it is under threat by a seemingly more dominant group.

Racialism

Racialism is the belief that members of a race possess qualities that are specific to that race, particularly in order to distinguish the race as inferior or superior to others. Race is often used as a marker to determine nationhood. However, because race is a fluid, ever-changing concept, this can be a very vague and complicated way to foster a sense of nationhood.

Internationalism

We often view nationalism in terms of state-specific borders. However, Internationalism rejects the separation of nations by borders, believing instead that the ties that bind mankind are far stronger than the ties that separate them. Internationalism calls for the global unification of all people based on shared desires, ideas, and values.

Map of the world made up of flags, Wikimedia Commons.

Types of nationalism

Nationalism can take many forms, including liberal nationalism, conservative nationalism, post-colonial nationalism, and expansionist nationalism. While they all essentially embrace the same core principles of nationalism, there are significant differences.

Liberal nationalism

Liberal nationalism emerged from the Enlightenment period and supports the liberal idea of self-determination. Unlike liberalism, liberal nationalism extends the right of self-determination beyond the individual and argues that nations should be able to determine their own path.

A key feature of liberal nationalism is that it rejects hereditary monarchy in favour of a democratic government. Liberal nationalism is progressive and inclusive: anyone who is committed to the nation’s values can be a part of that nation regardless of ethnicity, religion, or language.

Liberal nationalism is rational, respects the sovereignty of other nations, and seeks cooperation with them. Liberal nationalism also embraces supranational bodies like the European Union and the United Nations, where a community of states can cooperate with one another, creating interdependence, which in theory, leads to greater harmony.

Conservative nationalism

Conservative nationalism focuses on shared culture, history, and tradition. It idealizes the past – or the notion that the past nation was strong, unified, and dominant. Conservative nationalism is not as concerned with international affairs or international cooperation. Its focus lies solely on the nation-state.

In fact, conservative nationalists often don’t trust supranational bodies such as the United Nations or the European Union. They view these bodies as flawed, unstable, restrictive, and a threat to state sovereignty. For conservative nationalists, maintaining a single culture is important, whereas diversity can lead to instability and conflict.

Conservative nationalism is exclusive: those who do not share the same culture or history are often left out.

Let’s make America great again presidential pin from Reagan's campaign in the 1980s, Wikimedia Commons.

Postcolonial nationalism

Postcolonial nationalism is the name given to the nationalism that emerges once states rid themselves of colonial rule and have achieved independence. It is both progressive and reactionary. It is progressive in the sense that it seeks to improve society and reactionary in that it rejects colonial rule.

In post-colonial nations, we see many different iterations of governance. In Africa, for example, some nations took on Marxist or socialist forms of government. The adoption of these models of government serves as a rejection of the capitalist model of governing used by colonial powers.

In post-colonial states, there has been a mixture of inclusive and exclusive nations. Some nations tend towards civic nationalism, which is inclusive. This is often seen in nations that have many different tribes such as Nigeria, which is made up of hundreds of tribes and hundreds of languages. Therefore, nationalism in Nigeria can be described as civic nationalism as opposed to culturalism. There are few if any shared cultures, histories, or languages in Nigeria.

Some post-colonial nations like India and Pakistan however, are examples of exclusive and adopt culturalism, as Pakistan and India are divided largely based on religious differences.

Expansionist nationalism

Expansionist nationalism can be described as a more radical version of conservative nationalism. Expansionist nationalism is chauvinistic in its nature. Chauvinism is aggressive patriotism. When applied to nations, it often leads to the belief in the superiority of one nation over others.

Expansionist nationalism has racial elements as well. Nazi Germany is an example of expansionist nationalism. The idea of the racial superiority of Germans and the Aryan race was used to justify the oppression of Jews and fostered anti-semitism.

Due to a perceived sense of superiority, expansionist nationalists often do not respect the sovereignty of other nations. In the case of Nazi Germany, there was the quest for Lebensraum, which led to Germany's efforts to acquire additional territory in eastern Europe. Nazi Germans believed it was their right as the superior race to take this land from the Slavic nations who they viewed as inferior.

Expansionist nationalism is a regressive ideology and relies heavily on negative integration: in order for there to be an 'us', there has to be a ‘them’ to hate. Therefore, groups are 'othered' to create separate entities.

Us and Them road signs, Dreamstime.

Key thinkers of nationalism

There are several important philosophers that have contributed important works and theories to the study of nationalism. The next section will highlight some of the most notable thinkers on nationalism.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712–78

Jean-Jaques Rousseau was a French/Swiss philosopher who was heavily influenced by liberalism and the French Revolution. Rousseau wrote The Social Contract in 1762 and Considerations on the Government of Poland in 1771.

One of Rousseau's key concepts in his work was the idea of the general will. The general will is the idea that nations have a collective spirit and have the right to govern themselves. According to Rousseau, the government of a nation should be based on the will of the people. In other words, the government should serve the people rather than the people serving the government, the latter of which was common under hereditary monarchies.

Rousseau favoured democracy over hereditary monarchy. He also supported civic nationalism because he believed that the sovereignty of a nation is based on the participation of said citizens and that this participation makes a state legitimate.

Cover of Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s book - The Social Contract, Wikimedia Commons.

Giuseppe Mazzini 1805–72

Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian nationalist. He formed ‘Young Italy’ in the 1830s, a movement that aimed to overthrow the hereditary monarchy that dominated Italian states. Mazzini, unfortunately, did not live to see his dream come to fruition as Italy was not unified until after his death.

Mazzini is hard to define in terms of what type of nationalism he represents as there are strong liberal elements in terms of his ideas of freedom of the individual. However, Mazzini’s rejection of rationalism means he can not be fully defined as a liberal nationalist.

Mazzini’s emphasis on spirituality and his belief that God has divided people into nations shows that his ideas of nationalism are romantic as he speaks of the spiritual connection between nationhood and people. Mazzini believed people could only express themselves via their actions and that human freedom rested on the creation of one’s own nation-state.

Johann Gottfried von Herder 1744–1803

Portrait of Johann Gottfried von Herder, Wikimedia Commons.

Herder was a German philosopher whose key work was titled Treatise on the Origin of Language in 1772. Herder argues every nation is different and each nation has its own unique character. He rejected liberalism as he believed these universal ideals could not be applied to all nations.

For Herder, what made German people German was the language. Thus, he was a key proponent of culturalism. He identified das Volk (the people) as the root of national culture and Volkgeist as the spirit of a nation. To Herder language was the key element of this and language bound people together.

At the time when Herder wrote, Germany wasn't a unified nation and German people were spread all across Europe. His nationalism was attached to a nation that didn't exist. For this reason, Herder’s view on nationalism is often described as romantic, emotional, and idealistic.

Charles Maurras 1868–1952

Charles Maurras was a racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic conservative nationalist. His idea of returning France to its previous glory was regressive in nature. Maurras was anti-democracy, anti-individualism, and pro-hereditary monarchy. He believed that people should put the interest of the nation above their own.

According to Maurras, the French Revolution was responsible for the decline of French greatness, as along with the rejection of the monarchy, many people began adopting liberal ideals, which placed the will of the individual above all else. Maurras argued for a return to pre-revolutionary France in order to restore France to its former glory. Maurras’ key work Action Française perpetuated ideas of integral nationalism in which individuals must entirely submerge themselves into their nations. Maurras was also a supporter of fascism and authoritarianism.

Marcus Garvey 1887–1940

Portrait of Marcus Garvey, Wikimedia Commons.

Garvey sought to create a new type of nation based on a shared black consciousness. He was born in Jamaica and, then moved to Central America and later to England to study before returning to Jamaica. Garvey observed that the black people he met throughout the world all shared similar experiences regardless of whether they were in the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, or Africa.

Garvey observed blackness as a unifying factor and saw a common ancestry in black people across the world. He wanted black people from across the world to return to Africa and create a new state. He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which sought to better the lives of black people across the world.

Garvey’s ideas are examples of anti-colonial nationalism, but Garvey himself is often described as being a black nationalist. Garvey also called for black people to be proud of their race and heritage and to avoid chasing white ideals of beauty.