Nations and Nationalism

Question 1

What is a nation in objective terms?

Answer 1

Cultural entities

(Groups of people who speak the same language, have the same religion, bound by the same history, etc.)

Question 2

What is a nation in subjective terms?

Answer 2

Psycho-political constructs

(Members regard themselves as a nation)

Question 3

According to Johann Gottfried Herder, the innate character of a national group is based on

Answer 3

• Natural Environment
• Climate
• Physical Geography

Question 4

The organic identity of a people reflected in their culture, every nation has this

Answer 4

Volksgeist

Question 5

Who said “nationalism is linked to modernization, particularly industrialization”?

Answer 5

Ernest Gellner

Question 6

He highlighted the degree to which nations are ‘invented traditions’
He said nationalism creates nations, not the other way around.

Answer 6

Eric Hobsbawn

Question 7

He portrayed the modern nation as an ‘artifact’, an imagined community
Said that nations exist more as mental images than genuine communities

Answer 7

Benedict Anderson

Question 8

Nations that are characterized by a high level of ethnic homogeneity.
They are bound together by a powerful and historical sense of national unity.

Answer 8

‘Cultural’ nations

Question 9

A nation in which citizenship has a greater political significance than ethnic identity.
These nations were commonly founded upon a voluntary acceptance of a common set of principles.

Answer 9

‘Political Nation’

Question 10

What are the four varieties of nationalism
(Principal Political Manifestation of Nationalism)

Answer 10

1. Liberal Nationalism
2. Conservative Nationalism
3. Expansionist Nationalism
4. Anticolonial Nationalism

Question 11

• Central Theme: A commitment to the principle of national self-determination
• Ultimate Goal: The construction of a world of a sovereign nation-state
• Commits to individualism and subscribes to universalism

Answer 11

Liberal nationalism

Question 12

• Focuses on social cohesion and public order
• Traditionalism, maintenance of cultural purity
• Inward-looking and insular

Answer 12

Conservative Nationalism

Question 13

• Has aggressive, militaristic, and expansionist character
• “The nation is everything the individual is nothing,” Charles Maurras
• This form of nationalism is articulated through doctrines of ethnic or racial superiority, thereby fusing nationalism and racialism

Answer 13

Expansionist Nationalism

Question 14

An exclusive ethnic community, bound together by primordial loyalties

Answer 14

‘Integral’ nation

Question 15

Chauvinism

Answer 15

An irrational belief in the superiority or
dominance of one’s own group or people

Question 16

• Found mostly in the developing world
• Shaped by the desire for ‘national liberation’

Answer 16

Anticolonial Nationalism

Question 17

The theory or practice of establishing control over
foreign territory and turning it into a ‘colony’. It is a
particular form of imperialism.

Answer 17

Colonialism

Question 18

A term referring to prejudice or hatred specifically towards Jews.

Answer 18

Semitism

Question 19

A style of nationalism dedicated to unifying a disparate people through either expansionism or political solidarity.

Answer 19

Pan-nationalism

Question 20

A mood of public enthusiasm and celebration provoked by military expansion or imperial conquest.

Answer 20

Jingoism

Question 21

Opposition to further European integration,
usually not extending to the drive to withdraw from the EU.

Answer 21

Euroscepticism (anti-Europeanism)

Question 22

The forcible expulsion or extermination of ‘alien’
peoples; often used as a euphemism for genocide.

Answer 22

Ethnic cleansing

Question 23

A sentiment, a psychological attachment to one’s nation (a ‘love of one’s country’)

Answer 23

Patriotism

Question 24

The theory that there is a common core to human
identity shared by people everywhere.

Answer 24

Universalism

Question 25

Rights to which people are entitled by virtue of being human; universal and fundamental rights

Answer 25

Human rights

Question 26

The principle that the nation is a sovereign entity; it implies both national independence and democratic rule.

Answer 26

National self-determination

Question 27

A fear or hatred of foreigners; pathological
ethnocentrism.

Answer 27

Xenophobia

Question 28

Group behaviour characterized by insularity and exclusivity, typically fuelled by hostility towards rival groups.

Answer 28

Tribalism

Question 29

Refers to any belief or doctrine that draws political or social conclusions from the idea that humankind is divided into biologically distinct races (a notion that has no, or little, scientific basis).

Answer 29

Racialism

Question 30

Whereas ______________ is ‘rational’, and usually principled, _______________ is ‘mystical’, in that it is based on a romantic belief in the nation as a unique, historical and organic whole, animated by its own ‘spirit’.

Answer 30

Political nationalism
Cultural nationalism

Question 31

The belief that human beings are culturally defined
creatures, culture being the universal basis for personal and social identity.

Answer 31

Culturalism

Question 32

A group of people who share a common cultural and
historical identity, typically linked to a belief in common descent.

Answer 32

Ethnic group

Question 33

Culturally speaking, what is a nation?

Answer 33

Culturally, a nation is a group of people bound together by a common language, religion, history, and traditions, although nations exhibit various levels of cultural heterogeneity.

Question 34

Politically , what is a nation?

Answer 34

Politically, a nation is a group of people who regard themselves as a natural political community, classically expressed through the quest for a sovereign statehood.

Question 35

Psychologically, what is a nation?

Answer 35

Psychologically, a nation is a group of people distinguished by a shared loyalty or affection in the form of patriotism.