nationalism and international politics

definition of a nation + nature of nationalism as an ideology

• not the same as a state

• group of people who share certain “objective” criteria, that subjectively believes it forms a bounded community distinct from other communities

• nationalism is very flexible + can be adapted to support other ideologies

• not intrinsically good or bad

what is a nation state?

• state containing one large, dominant and relatively homogenous national group – often used interchangeably with state

• e.g., Japan, Irish republic, Germany, etc.

• matter of degree as no state is truly homogenous

what is a multinational state?

• religiously, ethnically, all or otherwise divided

• Switzerland, Afghanistan, Canada, India, etc.

• hard to distinguish between nation-state and multinational state due to imprecise measurement

3 less common relationships b/w nation and state

• nation w/o a state

  • nation w/o a state of its own

    • e.g., Kurds, palestinians

• multiple nations/multiple states

  • Central and Eastern Europe – multiple nations spread over multiple states

• self-proclaimed state

  • sovereignty not recognized by most other states

  • northern cyprus, Transistria Somaliland

2 nationalist ideologies + the state

1. separatism: a national group (usually minority) wants to secede from a state to form one of its own

   1. e.g., Tamils in Somalia

2. irridentism: one national group w/i a state wants to secede in order to join a neighboring state/a state claims a territory located in a nearby state based on claims of ethnic affinity

   1. e.g., Italy + the irredente lands or Russia's annexation of the Crimea

   2. not about separating but rather joining a state that already exists

what is nationalist civil war

conflict b/w different population groups inside a state, either either over separatist or irredentist demands OR over the distribution of political power inside the state

• can draw in other powers as well, leading to hybrid conflict

• e.g., Tamils in Sri Lanka – peaceful advocacy —> militarization —> civil war that drew in India

• often the messiest type of conflict