What is Nationalism?
Nationalism is a demonstration of loyalty and commitment to one’s nation. In such a way, people tend to protect their culture, especially against foreign enemies, and uphold the values and factors bringing them together, for example, ethnicity, language, and history (Ostergren and Le Bosse 223). Before World War II, nationalism was highly upheld in Europe. Consequently, people and states took up arms to safeguard their identities and pride against destruction by external forces. The state of nationhood was strong, and distinction between nations crystal clear. Nations strived to achieve self-interest, and the people from different nations could hardly integrate. Irrelevant information; you should write about the state of nationalism in today’s Europe (not before WWII). Nevertheless, the strong ties that held people together loosened after the Second World War. Nations started working together for common goals, particularly to reconstruct their economies (Ostergren and Le Bosse 233). The strong sense of identity and belonging to certain states declined among the people. As economic, social and political circumstances changed, the behavior of people and their perception of each other changed accordingly. You should clearly answer the second question: Has much changed in the decades since the Second World War? If so, does this tell us that nationalism may be as much a learned behavior as an immutable part of the human condition?
The concepts of nations and states are used in many ways to mean the same thing, which is incorrect. A state governs a territory whose boundaries are defined. In addition, it has its laws, taxes, armed forces, and currency. In line with this, the state has sovereignty over a specified territory and can wage war, negotiate treaties, and regulate the people’s livelihood within its boundaries (Ostergren and Le Bosse 151). Perpetrators acting against the laws set and ratified by the state are punished through imprisonment, fines, and penalties.
On the other hand, a nation stands for a group of people claiming a common bond that gives them identity. The bond, in this case can be based on language, culture, and historical background. Notably, some of these groups, which ones? have successfully developed into states (Ostergren and Le Bosse 222). For example, French people were bound by their language and consequently used their lingua franca to establish France as their state. In other cases, some communities, like Palestinians, struggle to have their own states but do not succeed. Conversely, some nations, such as Sioux in the United States, enjoy autonomy but do not have full statehood.
No transition A stateless nation comprises a group of people bound by ethnicity, language, religion, or other factors, but it does not enjoy sovereignty. Stateless nations are not allowed to participate in international events such as sports and signing trading and economic treaties. For example, Scotland is made of Scots as a nation in the United Kingdom, but it is stateless. In other words, Scotland enjoys some levels of autonomy, but it is not recognized as a sovereign state. Such nations arose due to several factors, including colonization and agreements leading to the merger of nations that once enjoyed sovereignty. In contrast, a multi-national state unites two or more nations with different characteristics in terms of ethnicity, language, and political orientation to form a sovereign state (Ostergren and Le Bosse 151). A state in this regard can therefore be multicultural or multilingual. For example, in Europe, the United Kingdom is a multi-national state, with both the Scotland and England forming one sovereign state. The Great Britain was formed out of the agreements leading to political union of the two nations. Irrelevant information; you should clearly answer: Why do we conflate the concepts of nation and state in the America, but Europeans would be less likely to make this mistake?
Work Cited
Ostergren, Robert, and Mathias Le Bosse. The Europeans: Geography of People, Culture, and Environment. New York: Guilford Press, 2011. Print.
