World History II

THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF NATIONALISM

A social being , man has the natural inclination to commune with other people , initially to the ones who are within his reach . Man has the inner drive towards self-identification and unites with those whom he finds to be of the same beliefs , culture , language and race . Such unification then brings individuals together basically for the purpose of establishing a community of the same language and race . As they live and work together in common place , experience the same triumphs and hardships , share common dreams and aspirations , they

are creating a tie that brings them closer together , gradually strengthening them as one community . They will soon be able to create an identity unique from those who are not embraced by the tie . Similarly , the ideology of nationalism developed with this sense of unity . Thus , nationalism ideally brings together people of common goal , vision and principle However , the pure and ideal concept of nationalism has been distorted overtime due to misuse and abuse by many power-hungry ones . Because of this , it is vital to establish what shade of nationalism we are going to analyze . To be able to do this , it is important to know what constitutes the ideology of nationalism

Nationalism is a 1 political or social philosophy in which the welfare of the nation-state as an entity is considered paramount ' 2It means primarily a principle which holds that the political and national unit should be congruent (E . Gellner ) Nationalism therefore originally connotes and requires that the common interest of the people should be of highest priority . Any self-interest should be set aside for the sake of the community . Nationalism should bring about unity and equality among the members of the community . Ideal nationalism therefore disregards ethnicity , language and religion . This is the reason why 3 nationalism essentially comes before nations and it is nationalism which makes a nation (Hobsbawin ) 3As Ernest Renan puts it , nations are based on peoples ' rich legacy and memories and consent to live together and to have a common will at present ' The defining criteria of nationalism include a common goal , a common interest , a willful consent to live together and a sense of shared responsibility to the community . It is in this context where 4 nationalism invents nations (Anderson

Since the birth of modern nationalism , which can be traced back from the French Revolution , the ideology of nationalism became a powerful tool by those who are hungry for power in oppressing the weak and grabbing what can be taken away from them . Nationalism became a strong magnet by the opportunity seekers in capturing the hearts of those who were blinded by the belief that genocide will make a nation stronger . It became a powerful mask in hiding the true face of slavery discrimination and violence . Hitler , Mussolini and Tojo simply have exploited nationalism in the name of fame and power . It is worth stressing that nationalism is not a multi-faced ideology . Thus , there is no such thing as the other face ' of nationalism...