Reflections on Nationalism   Term Paper ID:27854 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines the linkage between a nation and the sovereign state. Argues that nationalism is more complex, often including group unity and ethnic identity.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines the linkage between a nation and the sovereign state. Argues that nationalism is more complex, often including group unity and ethnic identity. Paper Introduction: REFLECTIONS ON NATIONALISM Introduction What do we mean by "a nation," and what do we mean by nationalism? On the simplest level, we use "nation" as a synonym for a sovereign state. When we speak of the nations of the world, we mean its states; they are entities that are members of the United Nations, or that could be if they applied for admission and were admitted. Britain and Brazil are nations; Wales and the Kurds are not. People in the United States are perhaps more prone to use "nation" in this sense than others, because "state" has such as strong popular connotation of the states of the Union. 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. (1982). Of the two, ethnic unity seems more fundamental. Yet Swiss of all ethnicitiesare purely Swiss, bound by a long common history of statehood. But on closer examination our usage is more complex and ambiguousthan it may seem initially. 6)Seton-Watson goes on to argue that the "old nations" of Europe, before theFrench Revolution, were "the English, Scots, French, Dutch, Castilians andPortuguese in the west; the Danes and Swedes in the north; and theHungarians, Poles and Russians in the east" (Seton-Watson, 1966, p. Yet we have the example of the Palestinians,where we may suggest that it was precisely the creation of the state ofIsrael that triggered the rise of national consciousness among the Arabinhabitants of Palestine. We may askwhether, in the Arab world at least, nationalism or even pan-Arabism is asstrong a force as Islam. It appears that either statehood or ethnicity can generate the other. In one scene, the "national" distinctionsamong English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish officers in Henry's army areplayed for humorous effect, yet they are all fighting in one cause. The ancientGreeks had a distinct "national" sense of themselves as Hellenes, yet theirpolitical loyalties were given wholly to individual city-states such asAthens and Sparta. In a historical context we may speak of "theFrankish nation," or "the Cherokee nation," although neither was everprecisely a nation in the modern sense. The experience of Islam is a case in point (Armstrong, 1982,pp. Islam also began with a distinctlyArabic ethnic cast; it carried the Arabic language and Arabic ethnicidentity far beyond the Arabian peninsula, so that people from Syria toMorocco now consider themselves Arabs. In the United States, there arerival traditions of racially-tinged nativism, and of inclusive nationalism. Reviewing the above, we find that nationalism as we understand ittoday seems to be compounded of two elements, each of which may be presentin varying degrees. The common thread is common self-awareness and self-identification. Nations Before Nationalism. (Seton-Watson, 1977, p. New York:Macmillan.Seton-Watson, Hugh (1977). On the other hand, Switzerland has apopulation with three distinct primary ethnicities, French, German, andItalian, each corresponding to a modern neighboring nation-state, andFrench ethnicity at least to an "old" nation. (Hayes, 196 , p. Alternatively, ethnicheritage and cultural tradition can come together to generate pressure forstate formation, as in nineteenth-century Germany or Italy, or amongpresent-day Kurds. ChapelHill: University of North Carolina.Hayes, Carlton J. Group identity, clearly, has by no means always been aligned withstates, or to any territorial political institutions having some similarityto states. It has had its origin and rise in Europe, and through European influence and example it has been implanted in America and all other areas of Western civilization. "Henry V." The Oxford Shakespeare, pp.541-77. 54ff). TheFrench, on the other hand, are stereotyped in a distinctively nationalisticway, and the play as a whole has a thoroughly nationalistic spirit. State institutions, and more broadly the traditions associated with astate's history, can forge an "ethnic" identity among diverse populations,as in Switzerland, Brazil, or the United States. Nazism, obviously, cast German nationalismin intensely ethnic and racial terms. The sixteenth century was longbefore the rise of nationalism in the formal sense. According to Hugh Seton-Watson, The doctrine of nationalism dates from the age of the French Revolution, but nations existed before the doctrine was formulated. But there appears to be no need for both to be present. "Nationalism," likewise, suffers from a certain ambiguity. 3). In Brazil, another racially-mixed society, there are racial tensions, butalso a sense that Brazilians of African, European, and Indian ancestry (orany mix of the three) all share a Brazilian-ness, and indeed that all threeheritages are integral to the essential Brazil. (196 ). Boulder: Westview.Shakespeare, William (no date). ReferencesArmstrong, John A. But in Iran, Pakistan, and as faras Malaysia, Islam spread without bringing Arabism with it. For most ofIslamic history, the identity of believers as Muslims was primary over anyidentity with a "nation" or "state;" the resurgent Islamic movement showsthat today that remains the case to a considerable degree. Clearly, then, no simpledefinition captures the whole meaning of nation and nationalism.Reflections Nationalism in its formal sense is commonly dated to the FrenchRevolution. H. REFLECTIONS ON NATIONALISMIntroduction What do we mean by "a nation," and what do we mean by nationalism?On the simplest level, we use "nation" as a synonym for a sovereign state.When we speak of the nations of the world, we mean its states; they areentities that are members of the United Nations, or that could be if theyapplied for admission and were admitted. People in the United States are perhaps moreprone to use "nation" in this sense than others, because "state" has suchas strong popular connotation of the states of the Union. 7).Most of these nations had two things in common; a high degree of ethnicunity, and a history of political unity under some royal dynasty, often of"native" blood. Nationalism: A Religion. Where neither one is present, there can be no real sense ofnationhood. Nationalism, as we know it, is a modern development. Britain and Brazil are nations;Wales and the Kurds are not. Italy and Germany were bothidentifiable as nations, with distinct national languages, cultures, andtraditions, long before they were unified as states in 187 . Once the doctrine had been formulated, it was used as a justification for creating nationalist movements, and then sovereign states to encompass the lands in which it was claimed that nations lived. One is ethnic identity, the other is a statestructure. Nations and States. 1)Again, however, there are complications. There has never in history been a Kurdish national state, but thereis a distinct Kurdish ethnicity, and out of the self-consciousness of thisethnicity arises Kurdish nationalism. Since the death ofElizabeth I in 16 3, England had been ruled first by a Scottish dynasty,and then by a German one, but English national identity was not weakened.Poland disappeared from the political map entirely in the course of theeighteenth century, yet a distinct Polish identity remained. But it is now no longer peculiar to the Christian West. In themodern formal sense of the word, nationalism is understood to be a ratherrecent concept. Today, likewise, nationalism is sometimes closely linked toethnicity, but sometimes not. Although Islam began with a political as well as a religiouselement, the Muslim world has been politically disunited for most of itshistory, and remains disunited today. Yet if one sees orreads the English historical plays of Shakespeare, such as "Henry V," onecertainly gets a sense of something like English -- or even British --nationalism (Shakespeare, n.d.). A nation is born when people come to identify themselvesas a nation, and produce a tradition of nationalism. Thus, to onestudent of nationalism, the essential feature of nationhood is "groupidentities rather than institutional structures such as the state"(Armstrong, 1982, p. New York: Oxford.----------------------- 6 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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