Nationalism Lecture Notes

What is Nationalism?

• Nationalism focuses on loyalty and devotion to one's own nation-state above individual and group interests.

Types of Nationalism

• Liberal Nationalism
  • Also known as Civic Nationalism.
  • Promotes values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights.
• Conservative Nationalism
  • Emphasizes the preservation of national identity.
  • Usually favors integration into the dominant culture.
• Integral Nationalism
  • Stresses complete obedience to the nation.
  • Prioritizes the nation above individual interests.
• Chauvinistic Nationalism
  • Involves an irrational belief in the superiority of one's own nation over other nations.
• Cultural Nationalism
  • Reflects national identity defined by shared cultural traditions and symbols of national pride.
• Anti/Post Colonial Nationalism
  • Seeks independence from colonization or the creation of a new nation following independence.
• Black Nationalism
  • Asserts the self-determination and cultural expression of black people.

History of Nationalism

• Emergence during the Enlightenment:
  • People began to question traditional power structures such as the monarchy.
• French Revolution:
  • The idea of individuals as citizens rather than subjects emerged.
  • Influence of Rousseau’s notion of the ‘general will’.
• Italian Unification:
  • Ten Italian states, ruled by different monarchs, foreign emperors, and the Pope, were united into one nation.
  • Advocates like Mazzini argued that the Italian people should have a government that promoted their rights.
• End of the 19th century:
  • Nation-states became widely accepted.
  • Conservatives argued that supporting nation-states was a patriotic duty.
  • Shift from nationalism being about rights to being about culture and language (as argued by Herder).
• German Unification under Otto von Bismarck.
• 20th Century:
  • After the First World War, nationalism was used to justify the independence of new nations following the collapse of empires.
  • Defeated nations used nationalism to reclaim their glory through expansion and exclusion (thinkers such as Maurras).
  • Following the collapse of empires (British and French) after the Second World War, newly independent nations used nationalism to forge their national identity.
  • Inspired by thinkers such as Marcus Garvey, who argued for a Pan-African nation.

Key Thinkers

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  • Key Text: ‘The Social Contract’ (1762)
  • Associated with Liberal and Civic Nationalism.
  • Influenced the French Revolution.
  • Believed societies should break away from autocratic and monarchical rule.
  • Individuals are best placed to determine how the nation is run.
  • General Will: Primary purpose of nationalism was to provide citizens with rights.
• Johann Gottfried von Herder
  • Key Text: ‘Treatise on the Origin of Language’ (1772)
  • Associated with Conservative & Cultural Nationalism.
  • Unlike Rousseau, he believed a shared culture, history, and language united a nation, not rights or freedoms.
  • Volksgeist ‘People’s Will’.
  • Quote: “Has a people anything dearer than the speech of its fathers?”.
  • Inspired German unification in 1871 but was also misinterpreted by the Nazis.
• Giuseppe Mazzini
  • Played a leading role in Italian Unification.
  • Associated with Liberal and Forward-Looking Nationalism.
  • Created the Young Italy movement to unite the 10 separate Italian states ruled by different domestic and foreign monarchs.
  • Influenced similar movements across Europe.
  • Desired a European continent of liberal nations with international cooperation.
  • Had a romanticized notion of the Italian nation, claiming they were the heirs to the Roman Empire.
• Charles Maurras
  • Associated with Anti-Democratic and Integral Nationalism.
  • Claimed that ‘foreigners’ were unable to feel any genuine affinity with the nation and should be excluded.
  • Claimed a global Jewish conspiracy was undermining France.
  • Looked back to a golden age of France under Louis XIV ‘The Sun King’ and compared it to France’s situation following their defeat in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War and invasion during the First World War.
  • Believed that the needs of the nation should be above the needs of individuals.
• Marcus Garvey
  • Associated with Black Nationalism.
  • Advocated for the unification of the African race on the African continent.
  • Descendants of enslaved people in the USA and Caribbean had been unjustly displaced; promoted the ‘Back to Africa’ program.
  • Wanted to provide African-Americans with education to rediscover their heritage and achieve economic independence.
  • Criticized for being against integration but praised for championing social justice for African-Americans and a more positive view of Africa.

National Identity

• Language
  • Herder argued that language was very important for a person’s national identity because it binds people together and is a key part of culture.
  • Links to the conservative view that society is organic and cannot be created.
  • Otto von Bismarck unified Germany in 1871 on the grounds that it was uniting all the German-speaking people together.
  • Hitler also attempted to do this following the German loss of territory in the First World War.
• Religion
  • Religion can be used as the basis of national identity, as seen through the creation of Pakistan in 1947.
  • Following India’s independence from the British Empire, Muhammad Ali-Jinnah argued that there should be a nation-state for the Muslim population of India.
  • Maurras argued that the diminished role of the Catholic Church in French society in the early 20th century was one of the reasons why France was not as successful as it once was.
• Culture
  • Shared history and cultural achievements are part of national identity.
  • Mazzini had a romanticized view of the Italian people, seeing them as the heirs to the Ancient Roman Empire and therefore capable of governing themselves.
  • This sentiment was also invoked by many campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union in 2016, arguing that Britain had ‘stood alone’ in the Second World War and could do so again.
• Ethnicity
  • Some nationalists believe race and ethnicity are the most important factors in forming national identity.
  • Garvey said that the superior black race meant that they could combat colonial oppression during the age of Empire.
  • Garvey argued that black Americans in the USA and Caribbean should return to Africa to create a Pan-African nation.
  • Maurras argued that certain groups, specifically Jewish people, could not properly integrate and be loyal to the nation and should therefore be ‘excluded’ from France.

Cultural Nationalism

• Protection of the Minority
  • Nationalism can be used to protect the rights of minority groups living within a nation; sometimes known as ‘Minority Nationalism’.
  • In the United Kingdom, there is a limited Welsh nationalist movement advocating for complete independence, but a large-scale movement to safeguard the distinct Welsh culture.
  • This is seen through language in road signage and compulsory teaching in schools.
• Assertion of the Dominant
  • Nationalism can be used to exert and promote the concerns of the dominant national group in a nation, sometimes at the expense of certain minority groups.
  • Conservative nationalists advocate for this when they feel cultural identity is being weakened by other groups and movements.
  • Example: Kemi Badenoch argued, “We do not want to see teachers teaching their pupils about white privilege” in response to the teaching of the British Empire in schools.
  • In its most extreme form, it can be interpreted as arguing that one nation's cultural heritage is better than others, as seen in Nazism’s drive for Lebensraum (Living Space).

Racialism

• Racialism refers to a belief that racial distinctions are the most important foundation of national identity.
• Garvey advocated for the separation of an African nation that would be free and different from white oppression experienced during the eras of slavery and empire.
• This can take the more extreme view with the concept of ‘nativism,’ which is the idea that those who occupied the territory originally should be favored over those who arrived later.
• A racist form of nationalism can be clearly seen with Apartheid in South Africa, where the white minority population thought themselves superior to the indigenous black population and denied them civil rights.

General Will

• Rousseau argued that the best way to ensure that the state upheld its social contract to its citizens was to give them self-determination.
• He referred to this as the ‘general will,’ which is the theory that the people of a nation are the most qualified to understand their interests and therefore choose governments capable of providing for them.
• This is one of the key arguments made by the SNP, who argue that Scotland’s interests are best served by decisions being made there rather than at Westminster.

Self-Determination

• Building on Rousseau’s ‘general will’ came the idea of self-determination, which is allowing national communities to become independent nations in order to fulfill their own interests.
• This was the view that Mazzini took regarding the Italian unification: the Italian people should be united and a nation created to take power away from monarchs and foreign emperors.
• The idea of ‘self-determination’ was advocated by US President Woodrow Wilson, who believed in liberal nationalism and wanted to see new independent nations in Europe following the First World War.
• Quote: “The war had its roots in the disregard of the rights of small nations… which lacked the union and force… to determine their own political lives”. This led to the creation of countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Multiple National Communities

• Many nations are made up of multiple nationalities, which can have mixed results.
• The United Kingdom has been made up of four nations for centuries.
• The USA was created to have a union of a number of different states, each having its own different identity protected through the concept of federalism.
• Yugoslavia was a union of different countries and ethnicities, but in the 1990s, this broke down and led to civil wars and genocides in places such as Bosnia.

Economic Advancement

• Garvey argued that the Pan-African nation needed to be economically independent. He stated, “a race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existence sooner or later dies”.
• To ensure this, Garvey established the Black Star Line, which was a steamship company to encourage trade between African Americans and African communities. This was done to lay the foundations for the Pan-African nation and create links between black communities across the world.
• Garvey also set up the Negro Factories Corporation, which was a company to establish black-owned, managed, and staffed industries across the Americas.
• This was designed to replace the white western economic system, which Garvey argued had oppressed African communities.

Nationalised Economies

• Certain socialist ideas around the economy were seen as inspirational for colonized people who wanted to free themselves from colonial rule.
• In 1959, the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro argued that Cuba should free themselves from American influence and control over their economy.
• When Castro took power, he implemented a version of Marxism and allied with the USSR. This meant that the whole economy became nationalized – completely owned by the government.

Nativism

• Nativism is the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.
• This can also take an economic form, as seen with Trump’s recent tariffs as well as his promise to prioritize ‘America First’ – which appealed to votes in the ‘rust belt’.
• UKIP argued for Britain to leave the EU partly on the basis that the economic opportunities of working-class Brits were being damaged by migrants coming from Europe due to freedom of movement.

Civic Nationalism

• Civic Nationalism is the kind of nationalism advocated by Rousseau and Mazzini.
• This is a form of nationalism designed to give rights and liberties to citizens rather than conforming to the dominant culture of the nation.
• It can also be called inclusive nationalism, which allows anyone to join the nation regardless of their race, ethnicity, or culture.
• This can be seen in the USA, which is a nation made of many different races and cultures who all can be considered American.
• The Constitution and Bill of Rights also guarantee rights to their citizens, and this is an integral part of what it means to be an American.

Cultural Integration

• Cultural integration promotes national identity and conforming as more important than individual liberty.
• This is supported by conservative nationalists such as Herder. He emphasized what he called the Volksgeist (a German phrase depicting the unique spirit and character of a nation’s people). As with Herder, language and culture are key parts of this.
• British Conservative politician Norman Tebbit said cultural integration could be measured through the ‘Cricket Test’.
• There has also been a trend towards ‘citizenship tests’ in countries such as the UK, which ask those who wish to be citizens to complete tests with questions such as ‘Who was the captain of England team who won the World Cup in 1966’?

Ethno-Cultural Nationalism

• Maurras argued for a form of exclusive nationalism which excludes people from the nation based on circumstances beyond their control, e.g., race and ethnicity.
• Maurras believed certain ethnic groups (particularly Jewish people) should be denied membership of the French nation. If you are to be included in the nation, then you should show loyalty to the state above all else.
• This was put into action by the Nazis in Germany with their concept of the Volksgemeinschaft (People’s Community), which was designed for the ‘superior’ Aryan race and persecuted groups from different ethnic groups.