NationalismClass 11 Political Theory Notes

Introducing Nationalism

Nationalism is a powerful political idea that has shaped world history for over two centuries. When we think of nationalism, we often picture things like patriotism, national flags, and the idea of sacrificing for one's country.

While the concept feels familiar, arriving at a precise definition of nationalism is difficult. However, it's crucial to study because of its immense impact on world affairs.

Nationalism has been a force for both good and bad:

• It unites people: It has inspired intense loyalty and brought people together. In nineteenth-century Europe, it led to the unification of small kingdoms into larger nation-states like Germany and Italy.
• It divides people: It has also caused deep hatred, conflict, and wars.
• It liberates people: Nationalist struggles helped liberate countries like India from oppressive colonial rule (British, French, Dutch, Portuguese empires).
• It breaks up empires: It was a key factor in the breakup of large empires like the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires in the early twentieth century.

The process of redrawing state boundaries based on nationalist ideas continues today. Many existing states face separatist struggles from groups demanding their own state.

• The Quebecois in Canada
• The Basques in northern Spain
• The Kurds in Turkey and Iraq
• The Tamils in Sri Lanka

These movements show that even in an age of globalisation, nationalism remains a relevant and powerful force.

Nations and Nationalism

What exactly is a nation? It's not just any random group of people. A nation is different from other communities you might belong to:

• It's not a family: A family is based on direct, face-to-face relationships where everyone knows each other personally.
• It's not a tribe or clan: These groups are based on kinship, where ties of marriage and descent connect all members, even if you don't know them all personally.

In a nation, you will likely never meet most of your fellow members, nor do you share direct ties of descent with them. Yet, people feel a strong sense of belonging to their nation.

It's a common belief that nations are formed by people who share features like a common language, religion, or ethnicity. However, there is no single characteristic that all nations share.

• Language: Canada has both English-speaking and French-speaking peoples. India has a vast number of languages.
• Religion: Many nations do not have a single common religion to unite them.
• Race or Descent: The same can be said for shared ancestry.

So, what holds a nation together? A nation is largely an 'imagined' community. It is held together by the collective beliefs, aspirations, and imaginations of its members. Let's explore the key ideas that people in a nation share.

Shared Beliefs

A nation exists because its members believe they belong together. It's not a physical object like a mountain or a river. It is a collective identity that a group of people creates for themselves. A nation is like a team; its members see themselves as a collective group working towards a common goal. If they stop thinking of themselves this way, the team (or the nation) ceases to exist.

History

Nations see themselves as having a continuous identity that stretches from the past into the future. They build this sense of a shared history through:

• Collective memories
• Legends
• Historical records

Territory

Nations identify with a specific territory, which they often call their homeland. Living together on a piece of land for a long time helps create a sense of collective identity. People develop a special connection to this land and claim it as their own, referring to it as a motherland, fatherland, or holy land.

Shared Political Ideals

While history and territory are important, what truly distinguishes a nation is a shared vision for the future and the desire for an independent political life. The members of a nation share ideas about the kind of state they want to build, based on values like democracy, secularism, and liberalism. This shared political vision forms their identity as a nation.

In a democracy, the most desirable basis for a nation is a shared commitment to a set of political values, often written down in a constitution. This creates a framework of obligations where citizens recognize and respect each other's rights. Loyalty to this framework is the strongest test of loyalty to the nation.

Common Political Identity

Some believe that a shared political vision isn't enough and that a nation needs a common cultural identity, like a single language or religion. While these can bring people together, they also pose a threat to democratic values for two main reasons:

1. Religions are internally diverse: Major religions have different sects with varying interpretations. Forcing a single religious identity would create an oppressive society that ignores this internal diversity.
2. Societies are culturally diverse: Most societies have people from different religions and language groups living together. Imposing a single identity would exclude some groups, restricting their liberty and violating the democratic ideal of equal treatment for all.

For these reasons, it is better to define a nation in political terms rather than cultural ones. Democracies should expect loyalty to the values in the Constitution, not to a specific religion, race, or language.

National Self-determination

Nations seek the right to govern themselves and decide their own future. This is called the right to self-determination. By claiming this right, a nation asks the international community to recognize it as a distinct state.

This claim often comes from people who have lived together on a specific territory for a long time and share a common identity. Sometimes, it is also linked to the desire to create a state where their specific culture is protected or even prioritized.

In the nineteenth century, the idea of "one culture - one state" became popular in Europe. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles tried to redraw state boundaries based on this principle, creating many new, small states. However, this process had severe negative consequences:

• It was impossible to satisfy all demands for self-determination.
• It led to the mass migration of millions of people who were forced from their homes.
• It caused widespread communal violence.

Even after this reorganization, most new states still contained more than one ethnic community, leaving the problem of protecting minority rights unsolved.

The right to self-determination was also a core principle for national liberation movements in Asia and Africa struggling against colonial rule. They believed political independence would bring dignity, recognition, and prosperity to their people. However, even here, creating states for every single cultural group proved impossible, leading to border wars and violence that continue in many regions today.

The modern solution is not necessarily to create more new states. Instead, there is a growing realization that the answer lies in making existing states more democratic and equal. This means ensuring that people with different cultural and ethnic identities can coexist as equal citizens. A state that does not respect the rights of its minorities will struggle to gain their loyalty.

Nationalism and Pluralism

Once we move away from the "one-culture-one-state" model, we must find ways for different cultures to flourish within a single country. Many democratic societies have introduced measures to protect the identity of cultural minorities.

These protections, often called group rights, can include:

• Constitutional protection for the language, culture, and religion of minority groups.
• The right for a group to have representation in legislative bodies.

These rights are justified because they ensure equal treatment and protect the cultural identity of the group. To build a strong nation, the national identity must be defined in an inclusive way that recognizes the unique contributions of all communities within the state.

Tagore's critique of Nationalism

Rabindranath Tagore, a key figure in India's independence movement, was also a critic of narrow nationalism. He said, "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity."

Tagore made a clear distinction between opposing Western imperialism and rejecting Western civilization. He believed that while Indians should be rooted in their own culture, they should also be open to learning from other cultures.

He was critical of forms of patriotism that rejected everything from the West. He feared this could turn into hostility towards other influences that have long been part of India, such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. For Tagore, humanity was more important than any single nation.

To sum up, the right to national self-determination was once seen as the right to have an independent state. However, creating a separate state for every cultural group is not only impossible but also undesirable, as it could create small, non-viable states and increase minority problems.

Today, the right is often reinterpreted as granting democratic rights to a nationality within an existing state. We live in a world where group identities are important. While we must acknowledge these claims, we must also be careful that they do not lead to division and violence. Every person has multiple identities (based on gender, caste, religion, language, etc.), and in a democracy, the political identity of a citizen should be broad enough to include all these different aspects of a person's life. It is dangerous to allow intolerant and homogenizing forms of nationalism to develop.