Large groups of people who are born in a given geographical region, are emotionally bound by virtue of their common language and customs, and shared cultural ancestry for several generations formed the nations of olden days. Tribal adhesion has generally been the cement of nationhood
The word nation is from the Latin word meaning to be born. We still talk of a person’s native place, meaning the place where he/she was born. Technically speaking, whereas a country is defined by government and laws, a nation need not be so. The Romani, the Tulu, the Kurds, the Yoruba, and many Native American groups are examples of nations without being states or countries.
For long centuries, indeed until travel became easy and migration for work and better opportunities elsewhere started on a grand scale, the people of a nation shared the same language and culture in their generational homes. They were part of the same ethnic group.
By and large they were anchored to their past and cultural commonalty which often included religion. The people were strongly bound by ties of tradition, collective history, and lore. When there was an external threat of invasion the bonds of the people became strong and infused a resolve to respond to the enemy. Emotional attachment to one’s nation constitutes nationalism.
Nationalism acquires strength when a people feel politically subjugated, economically exploited, or culturally marginalized. That is how the idea of nation and feelings of nationalism arose in Europe after the French Revolution (1789). Interestingly, in that era, conservatives were for internationalism under the rule of the Church of Rome, and liberal thinkers were the ones who sowed the seeds of nationalism. Nationalistic feelings replaced allegiance to monarch or Pope for holding a people together.
What has nationalism to do with philosophy? The idea of nations arose from the works of cosmopolitan philosophers: eighteenth century philosophes of the French Enlightenment and German philosophers of the post-Revolution period articulated forcefully the need for nation states.
When Napoleon’s imperialism swept Europe in the early nineteenth century Johann Gottlieb Fichte was prompted to call upon German-speaking people to proclaim their German identity and the philosopher of history Georg Friedrich Hegel expounded on the uniqueness of the German people in the history of the world. Likewise, by the close of that century Indian nationalism was ignited by patriots by like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Mohandas Karam Gandhi and others. They were responding to British colonialism just as Hindu nationalism was a reaction to Islamic intrusions into Hindu society. German nationalism spurred interest in local lore and ethnic epics, as did Hindu nationalism: standard appendages of nationalism in today’s world.
Commonalty of language, culture, and religion were the criteria in the formation of nation states by European colonialists in Africa and Asia.
In positive terms nationalism brings people together with a sense of belonging to a large family of fellow humans with the same historical roots. It reminds people of the deeds of valor and the great virtues of their heroes and heroines, past and present, real and imaginary. It fosters cooperation for specific goals. It urges poets to sing the glories of their people, composers to a write music adulating their culture. It infuses one with collective pride and jubilation, saluting the flag and singing the anthem.
Many early nationalists were humanists at heart. For example, Fichte spoke of serving humanity as one of his goals. But he also linked virulent antisemitism with German nationalism: – a grievous blunder that was to have ugly and catastrophic consequences eventually. This was because an intrinsic aspect of nationalism is overt exclusion of the other: a growing danger in today’s world.
Nationalism has the potential for vaunting the greatness of one’s own nation in ways that verge on convictions of superiority vis-a-vis others. It can be used as a tool by charismatic leaders to gain and maintain political power and stir up hate against other nations. There is hardly a political leader that has not fanned the fire of narrow nationalism in times of serious trouble and for getting votes in a national election. One invaiably finds a foe (another group within or outside the nation) as scapegoat for the problems vexing the country.
Extreme expressions of such nationalism led to fascism of various forms in Europe and Japan in the first half of the twentieth century. Charles de Gaulle said in the context of Nazism that patriotism was love of one’s country and nationalism was hate for another’s country. Perverse nationalism is one of the causes of the bigotry and intolerance that are raising their ominous heads in many parts of the world today.
Since nationalism demands loyalty to one’s traditions, culture and history, it is difficult to inculcate it among all the citizens of multicultural nations, especially when emotional ties of a number of immigrants to their former home lands are strong. Given that race, religion, and language are the primary binding forces among people, nationalism is seldom universal in countries where a variety of groups speak different languages, adhere to different faith systems, and belong to different ethnic shades. This can become a major problem when the percentage of people who don’t belong to the majority is/becomes significant. This is illustrated dramatically in India (significant religious and linguistic minorities). Canada and Belgium (significant linguistic minority) and the United States (significant ethnic and linguistic minorities). While diversity enriches nations culturally, linguistically, and religiously, it also has the potential for disruption whenever a sub-group feels uncomfortable, threatened, or marginalized and mistreated. In the absence of healthy nationalism the bonds of national unity are seldom as strong.
In the musical Cabaret set in Germany in the 1930s, groups inspired by Nazism sing a song with the following lines:
Oh Fatherland, Fatherland show us the sign
Your children have wanted to see.
The morning will come when the world is mine.
Tomorrow belongs to me!
These sentiments resonate in the hearts of millions of people today in China and India, in the Arab world and elsewhere in many countries. These lines are inspiring for sure. But the people of Germany who sang with genuine love for their country did not realize what was in store for them when exuberant nationalism takes over.
Spurts of Thought 