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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 nationstates
• 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!