Nations And Nationalism Flashcards
What is a nation?
A state in which all her Politically loyal to and identify with it
What are 2 examples of nationalism?
- French Revolution- mass involvement of people in politics on behalf of the nation
- world war- national feeling overrides religious priorities
What is objective nationalism?
Nationalism as a result of shared factors (eg language and culture)
What is subjective nationalism?
Nationalism due to feeling of community, for example Switzerland, who have 3 languages, many religions and a sense of civic nationalism as well
What is civic nationalism?
Commitment to the state and its values
What is ethnic nationalism?
Commitment to a group of common descent
How does primordialism believe nations get built?
Shared factors have evolved throughout history and are realised through shared education etc
How do instrumentalists believe nations get built?
They believe they are products of modernity, invented by the projects of leaders. Benedict Anderson- “imagines communities”
What are problems of nation building?
- the fit between nation and state is imperfect- a source of instability
- there are multi- national states- dual loyalties mean multiple identities
- there are state-less nations, eg Palestine
- there are nations with many states eg Arab state
What are the impacts of nationalism?
- it is a powerful force for people inside the state- for other states to compete on the same level they have to be nationalist
- creates conflict and competition between states
- election promises focus on nationalist interest
- WW1 and 2- conscription meant that civilian and military lines were blurred
How are global issues a threat to nationalism?
States need to work together to solve issues such as the environment, resource scarcity, proliferation of nuclear weapons, transnational crime and global migration flow.
How does economic globalisation impact nationalism?
- poses a threat to economic sovereignty
- free market constrains state economic policy making
- through taxation, global financial networks leave
- tax havens threaten fiscal basis- unfair advantage above state
- currency speculation threatens states’ monetary stability
- states have to compete for global investors- reduce regulation, labour rights and taxes
How does globalisation of communication impact nationalism?
- identities move away from the nation
- elite are more globalised forming a ‘global oligarchy’
- imbalances the core and periphery- cultural imperialism
How is the nation threatened from below?
- narrower identities- ‘particularisms’
- classes- victims of nations’ agendas- forms new identity (religion/ ethnicity/ class)
- civil wars
- transnational terrorism as a result of globalisation- based on religion/ ethnicity, against globalisation, due to weakened state control of borders and rise in communication
What did John Breuilly say nationalism is?
‘The creation of artificial communities through resurrection of traditions by elite to control the mass’
