DISINTEGRATION OF NATIONS.   Term Paper ID:21663 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Economic problems, ethnic differences & nationalistic aspirations in fall of British Empire, Soviet Union & Yugoslavia & application to future of Canada, Brazil & India.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Economic problems, ethnic differences & nationalistic aspirations in fall of British Empire, Soviet Union & Yugoslavia & application to future of Canada, Brazil & India. Paper Introduction: In the nineteenth century, the rise of nationalism contributed to the development of the nation-states that would continue into this century, and expansionist programs on the part of many of the stronger nations contributed to the creation of empires built around colonies in different parts of the world. The British Empire was probably the largest of these and included colonies all over the world. In the twentieth century, many of the existing empires and nation-states have undergone transformations as various pressures have caused them to disintegrate, to break up into discrete units around nationalistic, geographic, and ethnic differences. An examination of the decline and disintegration of the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia will serve to develop rules as to why countries decline, and these rules will then be Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The situation in India can provide a picture of whathappened throughout the Empire as Britain was made to see it was tooexpensive to maintain the Empire and too dangerous politically after WorldWar II. This confiscated land was then distributed to peasants,whose debts were also canceled. The rural areasexperienced similar changes. The nationalistic aspiration is thereforepresent, and it seems that the stability of the Canadian federation maydepend on economic issues. (1992, March). Ramet (1984) notes that nationalism canassume many forms within the multiethnic state: It may foster separatism, stimulate unitarism, provide a transregional focus of loyalty, or drive the component ethnic groups into civil strife. . Tensions seethed beneath thesurface for the period of independent rule, and they continued under thedomination by the Communists, who were able to keep the groups togetheronly by the threat of force and by imposition of all structure andregulation from above. The consequences of ethnic divisions, economic problems, andnationalistic aspirations are certain to have an impact on Canada, Brazil,and India in the future, though in different ways. Martin's Press.Scheper-Hughes, N. The legitimacy of the Soviet system was being called into question inthe mid-198 s in part because the bureaucracy had reached a point of nearimmobility. Knopf.Iyer, P. Death without weeping. The ethnic groups in the different regions of theEmpire, however, saw their own economic future as bound with theirnationalistic aspirations--escaping from the status of colony was animportant means of gaining control of the local economy and of making tradeserve the regions involved rather than the colonial power. Canada and India areboth faced by ethnic divisions which may lead in time to the disintegrationof these countries as presently constituted. Laws in1946 and 1948 completed the process of nationalization. This can be seen in thetendency of Soviet leaders to refer to the "Soviet" people, when in factthe peoples of the Soviet Union lived in different ethnic and even nationalenclaves. The Great Depression caused the people of Britainto concentrate more on domestic concerns and less on the Commonwealth, withthe exception of India. The British in India integrated the Indian people into theireconomic system, viewing India as a source for goods to be carried to andsold in Europe. Government policies were directedagainst the churches. India: a country study. Guilford, Connecticut: The Dushkin Publishing Group.James, R.B. Thecountry found itself with a highly centralized, one-party system with thePolitburo of the Yugoslavian Communist Party the center of power. The communists also embarked on a policy of fierce repression, with manyarrests and with many people eliminated. (199 ). This tensionwas not peculiar to the British Empire but was seen in all the colonialpowers of Europe. The church in Serbia lost land, and schools,convents, and monasteries were closed (Nyrop, 1981, 36-38). Canada 1993. "Gorbachev's time of troubles." Foreign Policy, 97-117.Singleton, F. The nationhood of the different ethnic groups in Yugoslaviawas always somewhat artificial, brought about by the force of circumstancesafter World War I more than by a desire on the part of the different groupsto be joined together under one banner. World War II was devastating to Yugoslavia,costing 11 percent of the population their lives, the highest percentage ofhuman casualties in Europe after Poland. Divisions in Brazil are less ethnic and moreeconomic, with some sectors of the economy beset by massive inflation, towhich the government responds with price freezes that only make thesituation worse. New York: Columbia University Press.Thompson, W.C. Twentieth-Century Yugoslavia. (1985). The economic problems of India onlyadd to the tensions between ethnic groups, and the strong caste systemcontributes further to inter-class conflicts that are likely to erupt in adivisive way in the coming years. The classic modern colonial economydeveloped, with unemployment and poverty marking the Indian system as theBritish used India as a way of improving their own manufacturing base andincreasing exports. (1992). If Quebec separates from the Canadian federation, it is likely tooccur through a vote rather than a revolution, while the ethnic conflictsin India have already produced bloody battles, attempts at subversion, andassassinations. The Soviet Union was not being held together by itsinstitutions in any case, at least not its governmental institutions. Readings in world civilizations: volume 2. (1981). Both the federalists and the separatists havetried to assert that their way will assure economic success (Thompson,1993, 85). The impetus for the British to expand and to acquireterritory was made explicit and coherent by Disraeli in 1872 when heenvisioned Britain as an imperial country, noting that England had outgrownthe continent of Europe and needed more territory to preserve her greatnessand to assure trade (James, 1977, 25-26). Pipes says theleadership found that there was no society and thus no partner: There were only millions of atomized individuals--some alienated and angry, the majority indifferent--whom 7 years of Communism had taught to take care of themselves and leave public affairs to their betters (Pipes, 1992, 28). Before 1918, there was no Yugoslavia, and until that time the Serbsand the Croats had never lived in the same state. Yugoslavia: a country study. "A whole subcontinent was picked up without half trying." In McComb, D. The British Revolution 188 -1939. This ethnic dimension can be seen most clearly in the formercommunist nation of Yugoslavia. The British Empire was quite extensive at one time, as noted, and oneby one British possessions, colonies, and protectorates were stripped awayin this century. The British Empire was probably the largest of theseand included colonies all over the world. (969). F. The American University.Nyrop, R. Washington, D.C.: The American University.Nyrop, R. Washington, D.C.: The American University.Pipes, R. (1991, Spring). (1976). Three dimensionsappear important in the disintegration of a nation: economic problems,ethnic differences, and nationalistic aspirations. These forces can beseen in the disintegration of the British Empire, the Soviet Union, andYugoslavia. In the twentieth century, manyof the existing empires and nation-states have undergone transformations asvarious pressures have caused them to disintegrate, to break up intodiscrete units around nationalistic, geographic, and ethnic differences.An examination of the decline and disintegration of the British Empire, theSoviet Union, and Yugoslavia will serve to develop rules as to whycountries decline, and these rules will then be applied to Canada, Brazil,and India to see what may happen there in the future. In Quebec, there is a French-speaking population divided on the issue of their future, whether to remainpart of the federation or to seek sovereignty, and in this case linguisticdifferences seem to be the most important in creating tension between theQuebecois and other Canadians. (1982). This pattern was repeated elsewhere in the Empire, and overtime the British themselves saw that resisting the freedom of the colonieswas economically and politically damaging and so could not be sustained. Knopf.Nyrop, R. On the contrary, it is a variable whose influence may be critical at some times and under certain circumstances, and only marginally significant in other times and conditions (Ramet, 1984, 24-25).Nationalism is potentially threatening to the multiethnic state, and as aresult elites in multinational states have often tried to createtransnational bases for collective consciousness. The Party also engaged in the task offorcing the new landowners into cooperatives following the Stalinist model. By shifting all political authority and property to the state, the Communist regime eliminated every semblance of an equilibrium between government and society (Pipes, 1992, 28).In the mid-198 s, the Communist leadership decided to dilute its absoluteauthority and to bring society into a limited partnership to help itovercome problems of political and economic stagnation. World history volume II. ReferencesGraham, R. Itwas being held together by the Communist Party. The breakup of the Soviet Union was presented as largely a victory ofWestern ideology and a failure of the Soviet economy, but in truth therewas a strong ethnic conflict and a clash of nationalistic desires on thepart of the different ethnic and regional groupings held together in theSoviet Union. Boulder, Colorado: Press.Reilly, K. The ethnic groups in the regionhave long been divided by cultural differences, religion, and language.Efforts to unify the region failed until after World War I, when theimpetus to come together increased for economic and security reasons. The West has had difficulty grasping this because Westernanalysts have viewed the Soviet state as one organized along familiarlines, with government and citizenry coexisting in a certain balance. What had startedout as a trading venture had become a political, colonial rule over most ofIndia, and the shift to open British political rule was the culmination ofa long evolutionary process that had changed the nature of the country andin many ways had impoverished it (Iyer, 199 , 123-13 ). Brazil: a country study. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Simes, D. An agrarian reform act in 1945 had limitedthe size of holdings and had confiscated land over the limit withoutcompensation. Washington, D.C.: Stryker-Post.----------------------- 9 Thebattle between the Sinhalese and the tamils in Sri Lanka has spilled overinto India as well (Nyrop, 1985, 486). The Communist Party socontrolled the infrastructure of the nation from a centralized positionthat the newly independent states are still having difficulty developingand controlling their own systems without the participation of the party,even if that participation today has been reduced to a shadow of what oncewas: Hence the anomaly of the present situation: Communism has been abolished and the country is committed to democracy, and yet the civil service remains largely and the miliary command exclusively in the hands of one-time Communists (Pipes, 199 , 31).The ethnic divisions have been apparent in the way the different republicsdivided into new entities showing little in common with the Russianrepublic to which in the past they had been so closely linked. The British had come to govern more and more of India during thecenturies the company was in place and the spirit of paternalism was adestructive force that included a strong tinge of racism. The issue of nationalism did not disappear during the Communist era,nor did that of ethnic conflict. British policy made India a more rural country,increased poverty, and made the people more dependent (Reilly, 1988, 126-128). . Nationalism clearly is not a constant that can be plugged into any equation with predictable effects. (1988). New York: Alfred A. Just as the acquisition ofterritory had an economic rationale, so did the breakup of the Empire havean economic component. A century of Brazilian history. The case of Brazil is more difficult. (1992). Balkan babel. With the removal of the Soviet Union as a controlling force inYugoslavia, the ethnic groups were no longer held together as long-heldanimosities emerged. Tito had given assurances that hewould not seek to impose communism on Yugoslavia, but he wasted no time inrestructuring the country along the most orthodox Stalinist patterns. The British rule in India was largely benign and noted for itsefficiency, but it did reduce the ability of the Indian people to competeeconomically, increased poverty in the nation, dismantled the industrialbase that had existed in India before the coming of the British. (1976). New York: St. Serbian independence was created by the peasantmasses. New York: Alfred A. "Russia's chance," Commentary (March 1992), 28-33.Ramet, S.P. In the nineteenth century, the rise of nationalism contributed to thedevelopment of the nation-states that would continue into this century, andexpansionist programs on the part of many of the stronger nationscontributed to the creation of empires built around colonies in differentparts of the world. Yet,the nation that emerged was always tenuous because the union did notsatisfy the needs of all the groups equally. In Croatia, nationalist sentiment was fostered instead by anintellectual minority (Nyrop, 1981, 13). However, there was a shift in policy as disgruntledBritish manufacturers demanded a turnaround so that Indian goods werebanned from England and English goods were sold on the Indian market, andas part of this the British policy changed from encouraging Indianmanufacturers to crushing them. Workers in the agricultural sector are faced withmalnutrition, sickness, hunger, and death (Scheper-Hughes, 1992, 1 ).Brazil is certain to face further economic crises, but without the ethnicdivisions and the national aspirations of different groups or regions,Brazil as a country is likely to survive without the sort of violentdisintegration seen in Yugoslavia and likely to be seen in India, or thekind of separatist agitation seen in Canada. The current ethnic conflict in what wasformerly Yugoslavia has roots that extend far back into history, and thedisintegration of Yugoslavia into ethnically differentiated regions waspredictable. The leaders who helpedbring about the creation of Yugoslavia had conceived of the new state as aland in which related peoples could build a common life, but many of theearly rulers of Yugoslavia were essentially the rulers of the formerSerbian state who conceived of the new state as an extension of the oldSerbia (Ramet, 1992, 1). (1993). The nation has undergonenumerous transformations since its inception and has had five differentconstitutions, always surviving as a national entity in spite of thesechanges (Graham, 1969, 2 2). This,however, was not the case: Whatever its theoretical claims and propagandistic slogans, the Communist regime in fact enforced in the most extreme form the principles of Muscovite 'patrimonialism,' depriving the citizenry of all rights, notably the right to form independent organizations and to own property. ThoughBritish rule was seen as benign, it was also stifling and in timeengendered sufficient restlessness in Indian society that resistance wasundertaken. A Muslim separatist movement in 1947 created Pakistan asseparate Muslim nation (Nyrop, 1985, 49), an example not lost on otherminorities seeking to assert their own nationalistic tendencies. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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