J. S.

Mill : ‘‘Common sympathies’’

The concept of nationalism helps people to identify themselves easily in the world.

However, this concept is changing during history. For example, people who live in Europe

tend to call European rather than German or French. In this case, nationalism should be a

more comprehensive definition.

However, there are some arguments that nationalism helps the states to find their

destiny, sometimes in one country their minority groups. In this case, the argument is failing.

According to J.S. Mill state should create ‘’common sympathies’’; this way, minority groups

can live without feeling harassed. Democracy can be a help to develop common sympathies

because minority groups can find representatives for themselves. Moreover, the state can

create equal opportunities for every citizen regarding religion, education rights, and freedom

of speech. In this way, multinational countries can make common sympathies and prevent

chaos in different groups.

In conclusion, ‘’common sympathies’’ are obligation because each nation has diverse

cultures, historical backgrounds, and other ways of understanding. Although globalization

helps to create shared values, there are still differences among countries. Because of that, if

there are minority groups in the states, states should make common sympathies. The Kurdish

issue in Turkey is one of the examples of that.