DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL-BOPAL, AHMEDABAD

POLITICAL THEORY

Ch 7 NATIONALISM

What is a Nation?

It is widely assumed that a nation is made up of people who share certain common
characteristics such as ancestry, language, religion, or ethnicity. However, there is no
universal set of characteristics shared by all nations.

The nation is an imagined community that is held together by the common beliefs,
aspirations, and imaginations of its members. It is based on assumptions that people make
on which they are identified these common assumptions are:
● Shared beliefs
● History
● Territory
● Shared political ideals
● Common political identity

Shared Beliefs
A nation is not mountains, hills, territory, infrastructure and natural resources etc. but a nation
is made by its people. It exists only when people believe that they belong together.
It is to refer to the collective identity and vision for the future of a group that aspires to have
an independent political existence. They have a belief that they are one entity and together as
one team, they have to work towards the progress of their country.

History
A nation also embodies a sense of continuing historical identity. That is, nations perceive
themselves as stretching back into the past as well as reaching into the future.
India shares the history of its ancient and long civilisation. India shares her legends, historical
memories, historical records. This civilizational continuity and unity is the basis of the Indian
nation.
We also share our freedom movement, this sense of history binds us as one entity.
- Book by JL Nehru - Discovery of India

Territory
Sharing a common past and living together on a particular territory over a long period of time
gives people a sense of collective identity. It helps them to imagine themselves as one
community.
People who see themselves as a nation speak of homeland, fatherland, or holy land for
example Jewish people say Palestine is their homeland.

The aspiration for a homeland has been a major cause of conflict in the world.

Shared Political Ideals

A shared vision of the future and the collective aspiration to have an independent political
existence that distinguishes groups from nations.
India shares its political ideals like democracy, liberty, secularism, socialism, and equality.

These ideals keep Indian people united. Indians have accepted these ideas as benefitting
every section of the community and are willing to live together. We are also bound by
obligations and these obligations(duty) towards our country has kept us united.
A nation is strengthened when its people acknowledge and accept their obligations to their
fellow members. We might even say that recognition of this framework of obligations is the
strongest test of loyalty to the nation.

Common Political Identity

Why Political Identity?

Even though participating in the same festivals, seeking the same holidays, and holding the
same symbols in high regard can bring people together, it can also pose a threat to the
democratic values we hold dear. This is due to the fact that all of the world's major religions
are internally diverse, and most societies are culturally diverse.

For these two reasons, when imagining the nation, it is preferable to think of it in terms of
politics rather than culture. Imposing a single religious or linguistic identity as a condition of
belonging to a state would inevitably exclude some groups. It has the potential to restrict the
excluded group's religious liberty as well as disadvantage those who do not speak the
country's native language.

India as a whole lacks a unified religious or linguistic identity. This is true because India is
home to many different religions. Within each of those religions, there are various sects.
India has never adopted a state religion because of its desire to respect all religions, and as a
result, it is considered a secular country.
We are recognised as a single political entity because we uphold the values enshrined in our
constitution. We have accepted secularism, freedom, and rights, among other things, as core
values in our constitution.

What is Nationalism?
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the
state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,
especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation’s sovereignty over its
homeland.
What Are the Effects of Nationalism?

Nationalism has risen to prominence as one of history's most compelling political ideologies,
and it has had a significant impact on events. It has elicited both strong feelings of loyalty and
strong feelings of hatred. It has brought people together as well as divided them, assisting in
their liberation from oppressive rule while also serving as a catalyst for conflict, bitterness,
and even war.
It has played a role in the disintegration of empires and states throughout history. Nationalist
struggles have influenced the drawing and redrawing of borders between states and empires
throughout history.
The process of redrawing borders is still ongoing, and it is having an impact on the current
global order in the Middle East and Europe.

Nationalism Helped In Unification as well as In Splitting of Empires

It resulted in the unification of a number of small kingdoms into larger nation-states in

nineteenth-century Europe. The current German and Italian states were formed as a result of
this unification and consolidation process. In Latin America, a large number of new states
were also established.
The people of the new states developed a new political identity based on their nation-state
membership. In the last century or so, we have witnessed a similar consolidation process in
our own country.
Nationalism contributed to the breakup of large empires such as the Austro-Hungarian and
Russian Empires in the early twentieth century in Europe as well as the break-up of the
British, French, Dutch and Portuguese empires in Asia and Africa.

Redrawing of State Boundaries - Separatism

The process of redrawing state boundaries continues to take place. Since 1960, even
apparently stable nation-states have been confronted by nationalist demands put forward by
groups or regions and these may include demands for separate statehood eg. formation of
Bangladesh.

What is National Self-Determination? How has it impacted the world?

Nations, unlike other social groups, want to be able to govern themselves and control their
own destiny. They want the right to self-determination, in other words.

The right to self-government is included in the concept of self-determination. Unlike other

social groups, nations want the right to govern themselves and decide their future. In their
claim of self-determination, the nation demands from international community that its first
political entity or State status should be recognized or accepted. To protect its traditions and
beliefs, as well as the people it represents, a nation declares sovereign rule.
The right to national self-determination has also been asserted by national liberation
movements in Asia and Africa when they were struggling against colonial domination.
Nationalist movements maintained that political independence would provide dignity and
recognition to the colonised people and also help them to protect the collective interests of
their people. For a long time, the people of India fought for their right to self-determination.

• Monoculturalism in Europe in the Nineteenth-century:- The recognition of a state on basis

of one culture-one state found increased emphasis after the Treaty of Versailles, the
formation of various small and newly independent states resulted in changes in the
boundaries of the state, displacement of large population, many people also becoming victims
of communal violence. • The boundaries were changed keeping in mind that different
cultural communities got different nation states, but it was not possible to do so because
people of more than one race and culture lived in one nation state. As a result, the problem of
accommodating minorities as equal citizens remained as the majority community dominated.
• Surprisingly, nation states that gained independence after conflicts, now deny minority
groups demanding the right to national self-determination in their territories.

The only positive aspect of these developments was that it granted political recognition to
various groups who saw themselves as distinct nations and wanted the opportunity to govern
themselves and determine their own future.

How to deal with the movements of self-determination?

The solution to the problem does not lie in formation of new states, but in making the states
more democratic and egalitarian. The solution lies in creating conditions where people of
different cultural and racial identities can coexist in the country as equal citizens.

Nationalism and Pluralism: -

Today, separatist movements for self-determination and demands for a separate state plague
most countries of the world. On the one hand, the expansion of the nation-state and the
formation of new countries increase violence, mass migration, and riots while non-members
of a cultural group who gain the right to govern themselves and form their own state are
frequently discriminated against and marginalised. As a result, they relocate to other areas
where they believe their rights will be respected and they will be safe. Other groups retaliate
with violence and retaliation when different cultures and minorities declare their right to self-
determination.

Democratic countries have realised problems associated with one culture- one state and
nationalism and adopted ‘pluralism’. They have introduced ways to culturally accept and
protect the identity of minority communities. The Indian constitution has broad provisions for
the protection of linguistic, religious and cultural minorities. These include constitutional
protection for the language, cultures and religion, of minority groups and their members. In
some cases identified communities also have the right to representation as a group in
legislative bodies and other state institutions.

Global citizenship can help to resolve the paradox of national self-determination. Increased
global democracy and inclusion is one possible solution. It may seem paradoxical that when
globalisation is spreading in the world, nationalist aspirations continue to motivate many
groups and communities.
We need to remember that each person has many identities. In a democracy the political
identity of citizen should encompass the different identities which people may have. It would
be dangerous if intolerant and homogenising forms of identity and nationalism are allowed to
develop.

Merits & Demerits of Nationalism

Merits
● Nationalism inculcates patriotic spirit. A man is prepared to make any sacrifice for the
glory and safety of his/her country.

● Nationalism is a unifying factor. It creates religious and cultural unity.

Demerits
• Nationalism is a threat to world peace. Nationalism often becomes the cause of many
wars. People belonging to a minority or other nation feel marginalised which becomes
a cause of conflict and violence.
• A nation upholding the values of nationalism regards its nations as superior to others
and thereby creates hatred for other nations. For example Hitler regarded the Jewish
race as inferior to the Aryan race. and hence he carried out mass massacres of Jewish
in order to exterminate them.

Difference Between State and Nation

●. A nation is a group of people with a common language, history, culture, and geographic
territory. A state is characterized by four essential elements -territory, population,
sovereignty, and a government.

● The elements of a nation may change and they go on changing, but the elements of the state
are permanent and remain the same.

● Idea of oneness is essential for the nation but not for the state.

● Definite territory is essential for the state but not for the Nation.

● Sovereignty is essential for the state and not for the Nation.

• A State can be created while a Nation is always the result of evolution

• State is a political organization, while a nation is a social, cultural, psychological,

emotional, and political unity.
Tagore on Nationalism

Tagore was against the concept of nationalism:

● He believed in humanism rather than nationalism.
● He believed that humanity cannot be divided on the basis of nations or borders.
● Equal rights and dignity need to be provided to everyone irrespective of the fact whether
he/she is an Indian, American or Arabic.
He was against colonial rule and asserted India’s right to independence. He felt that in the
British administration of the colonies, there was no place for ‘upholding of dignity of human
relationships’.
Tagore made a distinction between opposing western imperialism and rejecting western
civilisation.

His writings provide a critique of ‘patriotism’.

• He was very critical of the narrow expressions of nationalism that he found at work in
parts of our independence movement.
• He feared that a rejection of the west in favour of what looked like Indian traditions
was not only limiting in itself.
• According to him this could result in hostility to other influences like Islam and
Christianity present in our country.