Week 10 - Nationalism


Week 10 - Nationalism 



The idea of a collective national identity and its role in statehood has been theorised by political thinkers since the mid-eighteenth century. The various ways in which we conceptualise our citizenship in relation to a state is profoundly impacting on the way in which individuals relate to each other within a state and even more so on the relations between individuals from varying states as the differences between national identities become more clear by comparison. Global events such as the Cold War, the introduction of the internet, and increasing globalisation have all had profound effects on the way individuals identify with their nation. Now as globalisation and world travel becomes increasingly accessible the ability for people to become nationalistic for new countries is more readily available. Zoe Williams writes on the differences we can see between the good and bad effects that nationalism has had internationally and historically. She makes a point that the concept of nationalism has directed our efforts as citizens in providing necessary and beneficial national services for example. She also points out that nationalism has the ability to produce positive outcomes and thus counters the often popular narrative that nationalism has been a force of destruction historically.



References

Breuilly, J. (2017) Chapter 27: Nationalism. In J. Baylis, S.Smith, and P. Owens, (Eds.) The Globalisation of World Politics: an introduction to international relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Williams, Zoe. 2018. Nationalism can be a good thing. We have to make the case for it. The Guardian, available at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/08/nationalism-positive-case-immigration-counter-narrative-nhs

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