Nationalism

Not to be confused with Patriotism.
This article is about the ideology. For other uses, see Nationalist (disambiguation).

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Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state.[1][2] As a movement, it presupposes the existence[3] and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,[4] especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining its sovereignty (self-governance) over its perceived homeland to create a nation-state. It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity,[5] and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power.[4][6] It further aims to build and maintain a single national identity, based on a combination of shared social characteristics such as culture, ethnicity, geographic location, language, politics (or the government), religion, traditions and belief in a shared singular history,[7][8] and to promote national unity or solidarity.[4] There are various definitions of a "nation", which leads to different types of nationalism.[9] The two main divergent forms are ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism.

Beginning in the late 18th century, particularly with the French Revolution and the spread of the principle of popular sovereignty or self determination, the idea that "the people" should rule is developed by political theorists.[10] Three main theories have been used to explain the emergence of nationalism:

  1. Primordialism developed alongside nationalism during the Romantic era and held that there have always been nations. This view has since been rejected by most scholars,[11] who view nations as socially constructed and historically contingent.[12][9] Perennialism, a softer version of primordialism which accepts that nations are modern phenomena but with long historical roots, is subject to academic debate.[13]
  2. Modernization theory, currently the most commonly accepted theory of nationalism,[14] adopts a constructivist approach and proposes that nationalism emerged due to processes of modernization, such as industrialization, urbanization, and mass education, which made national consciousness possible.[12][15] Proponents of this theory describe nations as "imagined communities" and nationalism as an "invented tradition" in which shared sentiment provides a form of collective identity and binds individuals together in political solidarity.[12][16][17]
  3. Ethnosymbolism explains nationalism as a product of symbols, myths, and traditions, and is associated with the work of Anthony D. Smith.[10]

The moral value of nationalism, the relationship between nationalism and patriotism, and the compatibility of nationalism and cosmopolitanism are all subjects of philosophical debate.[12] Nationalism can be combined with diverse political goals and ideologies such as conservatism (national conservatism and right-wing populism) or socialism (left-wing nationalism).[18][19][20][21] In practice, nationalism is seen as positive or negative depending on its ideology and outcomes. Nationalism has been a feature of movements for freedom and justice,[22] has been associated with cultural revivals,[23] and encourages pride in national achievements.[24] It has also been used to legitimize racial, ethnic, and religious divisions, suppress or attack minorities, undermine human rights and democratic traditions,[12] and start wars, being frequently cited as a cause of both World Wars.[25]

  1. ^ Hechter, Michael (2000). Containing Nationalism. Oxford University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0198297420.
  2. ^ Gellner, Ernest (1983). Nations and Nationalism. Cornell University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0801475009.
  3. ^ Brubaker, Rogers (1996). Nationalism reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the New Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-521-57649-9.
  4. ^ a b c Smith, Anthony. Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Polity, 2010. pp. 9, 25–30; James, Paul (1996). Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community. London: Sage Publications. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  5. ^ Finlayson, Alan (2014). "5. Nationalism". In Geoghegan, Vincent; Wilford, Rick (eds.). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Routledge. pp. 100–102. ISBN 978-1317804338.
  6. ^ Yack, Bernard. Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community. University of Chicago Press, 2012. p. 142
  7. ^ Triandafyllidou, Anna (1998). "National Identity and the Other". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 21 (4): 593–612. doi:10.1080/014198798329784.
  8. ^ Smith, A.D. (1981). The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World. Cambridge University Press.
  9. ^ a b Mylonas, Harris; Tudor, Maya (2023). "Varieties of Nationalism: Communities, Narratives, Identities". Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108973298. ISBN 9781108973298. S2CID 259646325. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023. a broad scholarly consensus that the nation is a recent and imagined identity dominates political science
  10. ^ a b Adeney, Katharine (2009). "Nationalism". In Iain, McLean; McMillan, Alistair (eds.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727191.
  11. ^ Coakley, John (April 2018). "'Primordialism' in nationalism studies: theory or ideology?: 'Primordialism' in nationalism studies". Nations and Nationalism. 24 (2): 327–347. doi:10.1111/nana.12349. ISSN 1354-5078. S2CID 149288553. Archived from the original on 17 February 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d e Mylonas, Harris; Tudor, Maya (2021). "Nationalism: What We Know and What We Still Need to Know". Annual Review of Political Science. 24 (1): 109–132. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-101841.
  13. ^ Garner, Renaud-Philippe (18 May 2022), "Nationalism", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.2039, ISBN 978-0-19-022863-7
  14. ^ Woods, Eric Taylor; Schertzer, Robert; Kaufmann, Eric (April 2011). "Ethno-national conflict and its management". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 49 (2): 154. doi:10.1080/14662043.2011.564469. S2CID 154796642.
  15. ^ Smith, Deanna (2007). Nationalism (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity. ISBN 978-0745651286.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Anderson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Hobsbawm, E.; Ranger, T. (1983). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press.
  18. ^ Bunce, Valerie (2000). "Comparative Democratization: Big and Bounded Generalizations". Comparative Political Studies. 33 (6–7): 703–734. doi:10.1177/001041400003300602. ISSN 0010-4140. S2CID 153875363.
  19. ^ Kocher, Matthew Adam; Lawrence, Adria K.; Monteiro, Nuno P. (2018). "Nationalism, Collaboration, and Resistance: France under Nazi Occupation". International Security. 43 (2): 117–150. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00329. ISSN 1531-4804. S2CID 57561272.
  20. ^ Bonikowski, Bart; Feinstein, Yuval; Bock, Sean (2021). "The Partisan Sorting of "America": How Nationalist Cleavages Shaped the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election". American Journal of Sociology. 127 (2): 492–561. doi:10.1086/717103. ISSN 0002-9602. S2CID 246017190. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  21. ^ Bonikowski, Bart and DiMaggio, Paul (2016) "Varieties of American Popular Nationalism" Archived 7 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. American Sociological Review, 81(5): 949–980.
  22. ^ Wimmer, Andreas (2019). "Why Nationalism Works". Foreign Affairs. No. March/April 2019. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  23. ^ Smith, Anthony. Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Polity, 2010. pp. 6–7, 30–31, 37
  24. ^ Nairn, Tom; James, Paul (2005). Global Matrix: Nationalism, Globalism and State-Terrorism. London and New York: Pluto Press. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  25. ^ James Bingham (19 June 2012). "How Significant is Nationalism as a Cause of War?". Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024. Direct causality can be drawn between nationalism and war.