"Why should I be a minority in your republic when you can be a minority in mine?" -- Anonymous activist, former Yugoslavia
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In the Dictionary of International Relations, Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham start their entry with this relatively benign definition of nationalism. "This term is used in two related senses. In the first usage, nationalism seeks to identify a behavioral entity - the nation - and thereafter to pursue certain political and cultural goals on behalf of it. In the second usage, nationalism is a sentiment of loyalty toward the nation which is shared by people."[1] But, like most modern students of international relations, they argue that nationalism has been one of the most important forces shaping international politics.
And not always for the better.
What Is Nationalism
Nationalism has been the subject of hundreds of analyses and dozens of theories. However, the Evans/Newnham definition is a good start.
Political scientists draw a sharp distinction between the concepts of state and nation. State refers to government and other institutions which run the country. Nation, by contrast, is a psychological characteristic, what individuals identify with. There are nation-states in which almost everyone accepts the state as theirs and makes it the primary home of their political identity and loyalty. That would certainly be true of most people in the United States or France, but is less true in countries where people might think of themselves as Scots more than British, Quebecois more than Canadian, or Walloon more than Belgian. There are also countries with important Diasporas or groups of people who live outside the countries' borders but would rather not do so. As we will see later in this article, one of the most tragic examples of nationalism-induced violence occurred when Yugoslavia disintegrated into now six separate states. Only Slovenia was anywhere near homogeneous, and most ethnic minorities chafed under the nationalistic rule of the majority group's leaders.
Nationalism and the state are surprisingly new phenomena given the importance they play in international relations today.
Why Nationalism Is Important
Nationalism is important in two ways.
The first is relatively benign and is best seen in the patriotism of most people in the United States, the United Kingdom, or France. In those countries, almost everyone believes that the state is legitimate and supports it often without question. In countries that still have a draft, virtually everyone agrees to put on a uniform if conscripted.
Such patriotism can have an ugly side - who hasn't been appalled by the boorishness of American hockey or English soccer fans. And, most observers are convinced that patriotism can leave most people more blind than they should be to their country's political flaws, something many critics have argued about Americans since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Yet that sort of hyper-nationalism has not often led to the kind of violent conflict which claimed well over 100 million people in the twentieth century. One of the major causes of most of those conflicts has been nationalism of a different kind -- one that gets out of hand, turns into hatred of others, and sparks violence, often of the most brutal form. That is especially true when leaders of states can convince people that they have somehow been treated abusively by the "other" or that members of "our" group who live outside "our" borders need to be incorporated into the "homeland."
As far as interstate war is concerned, there is no more obvious example than World War II. Japan, Italy, and especially Germany were all led by leaders who stressed unmet nationalist goals and grievances in the years leading up to the outbreak of fighting in 1939. While psychologists and historians still debate exactly how this took place, there is little doubt that the intense emotions felt by leaders and followers alike contributed to the atrocities committed by people from all three of these countries.
Nationalism of only a slightly different sort has fueled much of the intrastate violence that has been the dominant form of intractable political conflict since the end of World War II. In some cases, the term nationalism itself may not be used at all in what are referred to as ethnic or other "sub-national" conflicts, as is the case with many of the conflicts taking place inside of multinational countries such as India. In other cases, there is no realistic possibility of creating ethnically pure states; there is, for instance, no way to envision Hutu or Tutsi states emerging out of either Rwanda or Burundi. The largest number of cases involve nationalities whose historical claims to state- or nation-ness are rather tenuous as in Kashmir, Chechnya, or most of the former Yugoslav republics. But, the people who take up arms in those conflicts share the same kind of deeply rooted emotions that gave rise to the Nazis in Germany and any other Volk or nation-based ideology.
What Individuals Can Do
The most obvious thing for an average citizen to do is to resist adopting ideologies that starkly divide the world into "we versus them" terms or choosing leaders who do so. I know from personal experience that is not always easy to do. I still harbor significant resentment toward Germans who wiped out half of my family. It is also hard for me not to feel hatred toward the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 and other attacks in recent years.
In more general terms, it is hard for people to refuse to accept such values during times of crisis, such as the combination of defeat and depression that gripped Germany during the interwar years. To begin with, the Germans had legitimate grievances about the humiliation they were forced to suffer as a result of losing World War I. Moreover, the German people were bombarded with "messages" from the media and respected local leaders which served to deepen their resentments. Eighty years ago, Hitler had to rely on newspapers, mass organizations, public meetings, and primitive radio and film technologies. Today's nationalist (and often demagogic) leader has the full range of mass media technologies to draw on. And, in some of the most destructive conflicts in the last decade (e.g., in Rwanda and Serbia), they did just that.
What Leaders Can Do
Obviously, leaders should resist the temptation to support and promote hyper-nationalist ideas. They may pay off in the short term, but the carnage of the last century suggests that they produce few, if any, lasting winners.
But, it may be even harder for leaders to resist hyper-nationalism than it is for average citizens. First, it is clear that some leaders, like Adolf Hitler, truly believe in their nationalism and the prejudices that go with it. Second, and probably more common, are the politicians like Slobodan Milosevic who used hyper-nationalist themes in a more opportunistic way to propel and keep themselves in power.
[1] Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, Penguin Dictionary of International Relations. 1st ed. (London: Penguin, 1998), 346.
Use the following to cite this article:
Hauss, Charles (Chip). "Nationalism." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: September 2003 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/nationalism/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Definition and Discussion of Nationalism. Stanford University.
Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/.
This page offers a fairly thorough but concise discussion of nationalism. It provides an introductory definition of the concept and the theoretical debates that surround it. The page also includes a bibliography and a beginner's guide to literature on the subject of nationalism.
Jorgenson, Bent D. "Ethnic Boundaries and the Margins of the Margin: In a Postcolonial and Conflict Resolution Perspective." , December 1997
Available at: http://www.gmu.edu/academic/pcs/jorgens.html.
This essay describes ethnic boundaries and explores how they are viewed by two different theoretical fields, postcolonialism and conflict resolution. It further investigates the role nationalism plays in conflicts involving ethnic boundaries.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Nationalism. Fordham University.
Available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook17.html#Nationalism.
This page presents a range of historical background information on the concept of nationalism. The page provides a general definition of nationalism as well as links to resources that discuss three specific variants of nationalism: cultural nationalism, liberal nationalism, and triumphal nationalism.
Treanor, Paul. Structures of Nationalism.
Available at: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/2/1/8.html.
This "article reviews briefly the theory of nationalism, and introduces (yet another) definition of nations and nationalism. Starting from this definition of nationalism as a world order with specific characteristics, oppositions such as core and periphery, globalism/nationalism, and realism/idealism are formally rejected...The article attempts to show how characteristics of classic nationalism, and more recent identity politics, are part of nationalist structures. They involve either the exclusion of other forms of state, or of other orders of states, or the intensification of identity as it exists." -Abstract
Offline (Print) Sources
Conversi, Daniele. Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism. London: Routledge, July 1, 2002.
"Contributors represent a broad array of disciplines: anthropology, comparative politics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, sociology, social psychology, and international relations. The authors are world-renowned authorities both within their respective disciplines and the field of national identity. The contributors address the core issues of identity, including race and identity, race and nation, ethnicity and nation, language and nation, religion and nation, homelands and homeland psychology, dating the creation of nations, the primordial debate, managing ethnic conflict, and the relationship of nationalism to patriotism."
Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, August 2000.
In this work the author assesses American foreign policy in the 1990s and argues that promoting free elections often generates serious conflict. Snyder argues that if conditions are not right, elections can give rise to nationalism and violent conflict. Employing examples such as revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, post-Soviet Union eastern Europe and central Africa, the author demonstrates that ethnic and/or nationalist conflict often erupts soon after a push toward democratization.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso Books, July 1, 1991.
Anderson's book is one of the preeminent studies of the social construction of national identity. His chief argument is that nationalism is largely built on mythical historical foundations and lacks any substance other than the utility to the society in question at that present moment.
Varshney, Ashutosh. "India, Pakistan, and Kashmir: Antinomies of Nationalism." Asian Survey 31:11, November 1991.
This article provides historical background on the conflict between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir. Much of the piece focuses on the question of ethno-nationalism and how it contributes to present-day conflicts. The author offers a take on why so many people in the post-Cold War world are defining themselves in ethnic and religious terms.
Smith, Anthony D. National Identity. University of Nevada Press, May 1993.
This book looks at national and other identities, the ethnic basis of national identities, the rise of nations, nationalism and cultural identity, as well as discussing separatism and multi-nationalism.
Smith, Anthony D. and John Hutchinson, eds. Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, February 1995.
This scholarly volume presents a collection of key contributions to the academic debate on nationalism. The editors of the volume are considered two of the top scholars in the field and the readings are representative of the wide array of writing on the topic, going back to the 19th century. This volume is one of the authoritative works on the subject.
Smith, Anthony D. Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Polity Press, December 2001.
"This book provides a concise, accessible introduction the concept of nationalism. It focuses on competing paradigms and theories of nations and nationalism, and analyses the subject in terms of ideology, theory and history. The approach is broadly comparative and interdisciplinary, with concrete examples and a time-scale stretching from the ancient world to the contemporary global age. The book concludes with an assessment of the prospects of nationalism and of the transcendence of nations and nation states." -From Amazon.com
Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Cornell, NY: Cornell University Press, December 1983.
This work is addressed to social scientists and offers a theory of nationalism which focuses on the social origins of the phenomenon. The author examines several aspects of social organization in industrialized society in developing his theory regarding the relationship between national culture and the state. The author describes nationalism as "a theory political legitimacy."
Hobsbawm, Eric J. Nations and Nationalism since 1780 : Programme, Myth, Reality, 2nd Revised Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, January 1993.
This work delves deeply into the complex concept of nationalism, taking a historical perspective on the phenomenon. The author recounts the development of "nations" and how the meaning and conception of the nation has evolved over the past 200-plus years. This revised edition includes a new final chapter which comments on the events of the 1990's in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke. New Wine and Old Bottles : International Politics and Ethical Discourse. University of Notre Dame Press, September 1, 1998.
In this book, the author examines recent interpretations of both sovereignty and nationalism. The attached review is one of four at the URL listed and must be scrolled down to in order to read.
Gurr, Ted Robert. Peoples Versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century. Herndon, VA: USIP Press, July 1, 2000.
Following the book Minorities at Risk, Peoples Versus States addresses the risk that ethnic and nationalist conflict will place on minorities in the twenty-first century.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Bowman, Glenn. "A Country of Words": Conceiving the Palestinian Nation from the Position of Exile.
Available at: Click here for more info.
In this paper, the author presents a "mapping of the 'country of words' that has come to stand in the place of Palestine in Palestinians' thoughts and activities. Here, then, is a survey, a Palestinian 'topography', that investigates how this recent diasporic people constructs and maintains a sense of a national identity when the territorial base to which that identity refers is occupied by another national movement -- itself constituted through the denial of the legitimacy of any Palestinian national aspiration."
Wolleh, Oliver. "Cyprus: A Civil Society Caught Up in the Question of Recognition." , 2002
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article details the history of ethnic conflict between Greek and Turkish residents of the island of Cyprus. The island was divided into two separate parts in 1974, and both parties continue to deny one another recogntion and both avoid substantive confidence-building measures. The article discusses efforts toward reconciliation and prospects for the future of Cyprus.
Exiting the Communist Brotherhood: Ethnic Kin-Group Conflicts in Transitioning Southeast Europe States.
Available at: Click here for more info.
This essay examines the role the collapse of the Soviet Union and nationalism has played in Eastern European conflicts.
Mateeva, Anna. "Georgia: Peace Remains Elusive in Ethnic Patchwork." , 2002
Available at: Click here for more info.
This paper discusses ongoing tensions and problems in the Georgian region of Abkhazia, which are preventing the etablishment of a stable peace. The paper details the political dynamics of the situation, as well as describing a variety of peacemaking activities by nongovernmental organizations working in the region.
Seng, Mardi. Hope. From Sideshow to Genocide.
Available at: http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/stories/mardiseng.html.
A survivor of the Khmer Rouge tells how his father believed in his nation just before he was killed.
Broughton, Sally and Eran Fraenkel. "Macedonia: Extreme Challenges for the "Model" Multiculturalism." , 2002
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article describes the dynamics of the crisis in Macedonia, which flared up in the spring of 2001. Outbreaks of violence are directly related to nationalistic sentiments and distrust between Macedonians and Albanians.
Stallaerts, Robert. "Montenegro: Splitting the Federation-a Split in Society?." , 2002
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article describes the ongoing tensions between Serbia and Montenegro, which were spawned by bad relations between the leaders of the nations.
Pesic, Vesna. Serbian Nationalism and the Origins of the Yugoslav Crisis. United States Institute of Peace.
Available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/early/pesic/pesic.html.
This special report offers a detailed examination of the many factors that contributed to the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990's. The key aspects of the author's analysis revolve around questions of Serbian and Croatian ethno-national identity, and those peoples' relationship to the state. The report takes a historical look at the political trajectory of the forner Yugoslavia and the events that led up to the dissolution of the state.
Idoyaga, Gorka Espiau. "Spain and the Basque Conflict: Still Looking for a Way Out." , 2002
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article profiles the conflict between the national government of Spain and people in the Basque country, who strive for political independence. The insurgency has led to much violence over several decades and in spite of multiple cease-fire attempts, violence still escalates at times. The author suggests potential avenues for establishing stable peace.
The Nationalism Project.
Available at: http://www.nationalismproject.org/.
This site is one of the internet's leading resources for the study of nationalism. The site contains an extensive collection of materials related to the study of nationalism including: essays, articles, dissertations, book abstracts and reviews, subject bibliographies, a bibliography of over 2,000 journal articles, and links to nationalism-related resources.
Bowman, Glenn. Xenophobia, Fantasy and the Nation: The Logic of Ethnic Violence in Former Yugoslavia .
Available at: Click here for more info.
This piece examines the emergence of violent ethnic warfare upon the fragmentation of the Socialist Federated Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991 and how this occurrence challenges previous theories of nationalism. The author argues that ethnic nationalism cannot be understood in terms of the modern rationalism employed by analysts of the phenomenon. Instead, Bowman argues that nationalism is "often constituted within political discourses which link passion and rationality in a manner which modernism - with its image of humankind as intellectively rational - is incapable of explaining or undermining."
Offline (Print) Sources
Minorities and Nationalists: Managing Ethnopolitical Conflict in the New Century. This article presents a survey of the current evidence and analyses of ethnopolitical conflicts around the world. These conflicts are engaged in by groups who define themselves using ethnic or national criteria and make claims against the state or other political actors, regarding their collective interests (ie. Mayans of Chiapas, Bosnian Serbs).
Gurr, Ted Robert. Minorities at Risk: A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts. Herndon, VA: USIP Press, October 1997.
This book analyzes ethnopolitical conflict in all regions of the world. It provides a comprehensive survey of more than 200 politically active communal groups, as well as in-depth assessments of ethnic tensions in Western societies, the former Soviet bloc, the Middle East and Africa. Through the group-by-group analysis the author attempts to explain why disadvantaged groups mobilize, and evaluates strategies that have successfully reduced ethnic tensions in the past, including autonomy, pluralism, and power sharing.
Starr, Harvey, ed. Understanding and Management of Global Violence: New Approaches to Theory and Research on Protracted Conflict. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, September 1999.
The essays in this edited volume approach social conflict through the study of "protracted conflict", or conflicts that are long-term and permeate all aspects of society. The work attempts to understand contemporary global politics and conflict by looking across levels of analysis, from international, to transnational to domestic behavior. The approach is grounded in two-level analysis, focusing on the analysis of crisis and the nature of identity groups and enduring rivalries. Included are examinations of Israel, the Palestinians, and Lebanon; the Philippines, Nicaragua; Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan; and Northern Ireland.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
The Mideast: A Century of ConflictPart 1: Theodor Herzl and the First Zionist Congress. NPR. September 30, 2002.
Available at: http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history1.html.
This audio clip discusses the initial proposition by Theodor Herzl to create a Jewish state. The political movement that was created to help pursue the Jewish state was Zionism.
Offline (Print) Sources
Democracy in Crisis. Directed and/or Produced by: Datta, Manjira. First Run Icarus Films. 1991.
This film explores how people in India identify themselves in nationalistic terms, and what effects this has on separatist movements. Click here for more info.
Euskadi: A Stateless Nation. Directed and/or Produced by: MacCaig, Arthur. First Run Icarus Films. 1984.
This film looks at the role nationalism and identity play in the Basque-Spanish conflict. Click here for more info.
Mortu Nega / Those Whom Death Refused. Directed and/or Produced by: Gomes, Flora. California Newsreel. 1988.
This film examines the last days of Guinea-Bissau's struggle for independence from Portuguese colonial rule, and the first few years thereafter which brought about a period of demobilization and reconstruction. Click here for more info.
Prelude to Kosovo: War and Peace in Bosnia and Croatia. Directed and/or Produced by: Michalczyk, John. 1999.
This film uses interviews from religious and political leaders in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, to document how important the issues of identity and nationalism were to the people living in the Balkan region. Click here for more info.
War and Peace . Directed and/or Produced by: Patwardhan, Anand. First Run Icarus Films. 2002.
This film articulates how rhetoric associated with nationalism and religious fundamentalism, rallied the people of India into accepting the use of military force as the main solution for obtaining peace and security. Click here for more info.
Yugoslavia: Origins of a War . Directed and/or Produced by: Talczewski, Christophe. First Run Icarus Films. 1992.
This film illustrates the affects nationalism has had on conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Click here for more info.
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