Week 9 Notes: Nationalism and the Nation-State

Week 9: The Idea of the Nation and Nationalism

The nation as imagined.
The nation as imagined sovereignty.
The nation as imagined community.
Nationalism as ideology.
Nationalism as identity.
Nationalism and culture.
Nationalism and history.
Nationalism and language.
Nationalism and resistance.

Readings

Andrew Heywood, 2004, Political Theory: An Introduction, Third Edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, chapter 4, pp. 97-105
Benedict Anderson, 1983, Imagined Communities, New York: Verso
Partha Chatterjee, 1991, Whose Imagined Community

A. Foundations of Nationalism (European National Consciousness)

The concept of the nation emerges in Western history around the 18th century.
Ontological claims of the nation allow for individual human rights and freedom in the sovereign state.
Nationalism can be drawn from:
- "Self-consciously held political ideologies."
- "Cultural systems."
- Historical events (liberation struggles) etc.
According to Heywood, "a nation is a cultural entity, a body of people bound together by a shared cultural heritage" (Heywood, p. 98).
Cultural factors include: "a common language, religion, traditions, historical consciousness" (Heywood, p. 98).
The discussion focuses on the history of nationalism in post-Enlightenment and national liberation struggles.
Other factors influencing nationalist ideology include class, tribe or ethnicity, race, citizenship, etc.
All forms of nationalism assume a different political character.

1. Cultural Roots of Nationalism

Nationalism as a form of identity emerges from the culture or history of a people.
This history is embodied by monuments or statues.
The idea of the nation or nationalism cannot be separated from the post-Enlightenment history of rationalist secularism.
As Heywood indicates, "nationalists have been prepared to accord the nation rights similar to those that are usually thought to belong to the individual, treating national self-determination, for instance, with the respect for individual liberty" (Heywood, p. 107).
This declaration relates to expressions of nationalism in colonial societies where it first took an elitist and liberal humanism form.
Example: Nationalism in the narrative of early African intellectuals like Sol Plaatjie.
Identity politics introduced became the dominant framework within which other cultures participate in nationalism.
Although nationalist history exists in different cultures, it's expressed as secularism.
In the Islamic world, religion plays an important role in forming a nationalist identity.
The history of nationalism needs close examination specific to each culture; no state is culturally homogenous.
Even those in the Middle East, the idea of the nation tends to be confounded with religion.

2. Modernity and Print-Capitalism – Linguistic Nationalism – Benedict Anderson.

According to Benedict Anderson, the development of print-media or manuscript knowledge in post-Enlightenment Europe led to the idea of a common identity founded on language.
The print media emerged as a capitalist enterprise with Latin readers as its target.
The language factor. Latin literature was consumed by the European intelligentsia or humanists.
New reading publics were mobilized for politico-religious purposes.
Print media created a unified system of exchange and communication in Latin.

3. National Liberation Struggles

Emancipatory aspects of nationalism adopted by liberation movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Caribbean.
The idea of nationalism arrived in the colonies within the framework of a universal history pursued by Europe.
In the colonial context, traced to national liberation/anti-colonial struggles.
The desire for liberation united people across different social identities.
Colonial/racial domination enabled the colonized to build a common identity.
The struggles were multicultural in character and involved class politics based on socialist ideology.
Characterization of liberation movements as nationalist movements contested by Partha Chatterjee in "Whose Imagined Communities".
Chatterjee cautions against associating nationalism with modular forms made available by western epistemology.
If we agree with Benedict Anderson centering modernity in nationalism, then our imaginations will forever be colonized.
Chatterjee challenges the Eurocentric foundations of the idea of nationalism.
Unlike the liberals identified by Heywood, he believes it should be treated as a danger to world politics, particularly for fueling ethnic and tribal wars in postcolonial societies.

B. The Nation and the State in International Relations

According to Heywood, the nation (as a question of identity) establishes the basis for the boundaries of the state.
The nation is the main unit of political rule in modern political societies.
Like the idea of the state, the idea of the nation or nationalism has been disappearing due to colonialism.
In the case of the nation, it is largely to the ideals of multiculturalism and immigration.
Ideals of globalization and cosmopolitanism have led to the embrace of identities beyond nation-states.
Globalization has led to the shift from the nation-state to the market state.
The market has become the dominant determinant of the movement of people, goods, and ideas, complicated by the internet.
Cosmopolitanism has led to the shift from cultural identity to multiculturalism.

C. Factors Threatening the Idea of the Nation-State

Economic, political, and cultural processes/factors that threaten the existence of the nation-state in world politics.

1. Globalization

For globalists, free trade can promote various forms of interdependence.
Globalization has a "pronounced neo-liberal or free-market character" (Heywood, p. 108).
According to Heywood, globalization "has been linked to a complex of political, economic, strategic and ideological shifts in world politics" (Heywood, p. 107).
It refers to "the growth of supraterritorial relations between people" (Heywood, p. 107).
At the economic level, globalization is driven by the power of multinational companies, the internationalization of production, and the free movement of capital (financialization).
These market forces have been enhanced by global institutions such as UN, IMF, WTO, NATO etc.
These organizations have enforced free-market-oriented economic reform strategies across the globe.

2. Cosmopolitanism

For cosmopolitanism or multiculturalism, cultural and ethnic diversity is necessary for human and social development.
The nation-state is still the sphere within which cultural identity and social cohesion emerge before expression in the international sphere.
Both liberals and Marxists embrace the idea of nationalism; the nation-state remains the most important unit of political rule.
Through globalization, information, images, or commodities produced in one region can reach different regions.

3. Supranationalism

Although not a very significant factor after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the liberation wars in colonial societies, supranationalism is also an important factor which threatens nationalist identity processes.
According to Heywood, a supranational body is one which exercises a jurisdiction over multiple states.
The liberation struggles led to the collapse of the British Empire, but the Commonwealth still exists.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to the end of the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire.
However, the war in Ukraine (Russian federations) shows evidence of the survival of the politics of Empire.
China also claims jurisdiction over Taiwan or Tibet.
Trump’s threats to Canada and Greenland.

4. Intergovernmentalism

According to Heywood, there has been a significant shift towards supranationalism at the global level.
Its weakest expression has been intergovernmentalism.
Supranationalism is expressed through the idea of “a global state or some kind of world government” (Heywood, p. 110).
It has been realised through bilateral treaties or alliances.
Global institutions such as NATO, EU, OAU, SADC, etc.

5. Federalism and Federations

Federalism is a factor which threatens nationalism or the nation-state.
According to Heywood, “federalism involves the division of law-making power between a central body and a number of territorial units. Each level of government is allocated a range of duties, powers, and functions, specified by some kind of constitutional document” (Heywood, p. 113).
The federal system of government is used in USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, India, etc.
A federation may involve some form of state, provincial, or regional government.
South Africa as a federal state?
In Europe, the idea of federalism has been pursued through the EU.