I don’t understand the concept of nationalism and it shows itself in the modern world. After reading a textbook with past examples, and googling it I still don’t understand it
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Americans are a pretty textbook example of nationalism, theyre freakishly gatekeepery on their nationalism and have this weird skewed view of their country as being the best and number one. The flags on the lawns, national anthem everywhere and obsession with Americanism is definitely nationalism in the modern sense.
A way I think of Nationalism is the feeling of pride in ones nations, basically its showing how a person is proud in their country, nation, or nation-state. (nation-state and country are the same thing lol) A modern example is how people of a country feel after their countries team wins in a NBA game or NHL game, a more specific example is how the Toronto Raptors won the NBA last year and all Canadians especially people in Toronto felt proud of Canada for achieving this. A good past example is how the people of France felt when the revolution started, they felt pride in the revolution because the Ancien Regime was becoming abloshied. Another example was the Storming of The Bastille which made French people feel pride because it showed them that there is hope for change.
Hope this helped! I only have a Summer Schools length of knowledge on Social20-1. But this is what helped me know.
Nationalism is a cultural and political movement that convinces the people of a nation to put the good of the nation over anything else such as creed, religion, or ethnicity.
Nationalism is usually coupled with a firm or skewed belief that your nation is better than all the others, and is used as an excuse by political or military leaders to push their agenda of trying to make other countries like yours, or to invade and take over other countries for the benefit of your own. Terms similar to ‘manifest destiny’ start getting thrown around.
The US is probably the most nationalistic nation in the World right now with rampant patriotism, obsession over national symbols like the flag, nation anthem, etc. That and trying to push ‘Americanization’ on the rest of the world.
This is hardly an American only problem, but it’s a sign of worse things to come. Nationalism was one of many leading causes to WW1 as it polarized the European nations/empires against each other, and was a key part of both Nazi and Soviet ideology.
The Presidents recent boast about ‘Patriotic Education’ in schools is a classic Nationalist philosophy. Indoctrinating children at a young age in public schools about the benefits and superiority of your nation and creating a generation favoring the ideology of the current ruling elite.
This echos what was happening in Europe in the early 20th century prior to WW1 as well as in Germany and the Soviet Union prior to WW2.
At the extreme end certain Creeds, Ethnicities, and Religious beliefs are integrated into the national image. For the Nazi’s it was the blonde haired, blue eyed, *Aryan* archtype, while in the US many push the image of the ‘All American family’ of White Christian family who’s lineage can be traced back to early settlers.
National symbols become sacred and people are attacked or discredited for damaging any symbol of the nation such as burning a flag, or refusing to show respect during the national anthem.
The current president talks frequently about “America First,” with a meaning that, policies will always favor America’s interests over anything else, including relationships with allies that are seen as currently sub-optimal. For example, look at how the administration has advocated for NATO partners to increase their defense spending, out of a stated concern that the U.S. is being taken advantage of. This has progressed to the point where NATO allies are concerned that the U.S. would not uphold its end of the NATO treaty in the case of a shooting war — regardless of the fact that failing to assist allies would likely harm U.S. long term interests.
This is an example of nationalism over multilateralism. Or it’s just hardball politics, depending on your point of view.
Nationalism was a movement in the late 1800s in Europe and most prominently in what are now Italy and Germany. In the early 1800s, Italy and Germany consisted of many different duchies, principalities, kingdoms, and republics. Nationalists sought to unify these small states for cultural, linguistic, and economic reasons. They looked to Britain and France, which were relatively large, unified states and wanted to emulate their greatness and power.
The modern concept of the nation developed gradually. After the fall of Rome, Europeans were not citizens of nations, but subjects of kings. Kings ruled over territories consisting of nobles, many of whom fought among one another to expand territory within the kingdom.
For example, French noblemen were constantly raising armies and going to battle against one another, even though they were subjects of the same king which is unthinkable in a modern nation. They did this for several reasons. First, they had to command armies and go to battle to be obtain the honor and prestige of being noblemen. Second, when they went to war, the king would summon them to the palace and arbitrate the terms of peace. Being in the king’s presence was very prestigious and while they were at the palace, they could lobby the king for privileges within the kingdom and try to expand their power.
In the 1600s, a new state position began to become prominent. This was the prime minister. In France, the prime minister was the Catholic cardinal, Richelieu, often called the father of modern statecraft. He subordinated many of the semi-autonomous towns and cities in France to the centralized power of the French state. He began the separation of the government and the state. As prime minister, he was the head of government-the day to day administration of a nation, while the king was the head of state-the personal embodiment of the nation as an entity.
After Richelieu and the king he served under died, King Louis XIV became king, and his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, came to power. Louis XIV’s idea of how to end the battles between the noblemen within his kingdom was to build an enormous palace, Versailles. Instead of raising armies and fighting to get the king’s attention, Louis XIV wanted his noblemen to simply come to his palace and pay their court to him. He wanted a palace large enough to accommodate all of them. And instead of fighting each other, he wanted his nobles to lead armies against surrounding states. In this way, Louis XIV consolidated power, brought peace to kingdom, and got France closer to what we understand as a modern nation.
After the French Revolution, the modern concept of citizen, as opposed to subject of a king, was born.
In 1688, Britain underwent the Glorious Revolution. This event brought about constitutional monarchy. This changed the monarch from ruling by divine right to ruling by consent of the governed. It also made the monarch subordinate to the law, rather than above the law. Eventually, the prime minister became a permanent, institutional position rather than an advisor the monarch could appoint at will. This permanently separated the position of head of state and head of government. England and Scotland also became the United Kingdom, or Britain in 1707.
Germans and Italians wanted the different states in their regions to do the same and for the same reason.
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