Nationalism in Development of Nations Research Paper

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Nationalism and Its Importance in the Development of Nations in the 1900s

Nationalism is considered as the proliferation of a homogenous political identity to a community that is bounded by a territory through various means of communication. In some cases, nationalism is described as the feeling of patriotic zeal for an individual's country. Nationalism was a common factor in the development of nations in the 1900s that also contributed to the First World War. This concept played a crucial role in the development of nations in the 1900s by developing a sentiment that bounded large groups of people on the idea that they have certain things in common such as religion, culture, and ethnicity. However, the modern concept of nationalism is based on a sense of common national identity. Given the patriotic fervor it generates, nationalism played a significant role in the development of nations in the 1900s.

The Concept of Nationalism

Nationalism can be regarded as one of the most powerful concept of political legitimacy in the contemporary world. The potency of this concept ascertains that the nation should be freely and collectively expressed through institutional means and ruled by co-nationals. Moreover, nationalist movements have emerged as powerful groups with the ability to shake states and empires (O'Leary, p.191). The strength of nationalism has contributed to its emergence as a major principle of political legitimacy in the modern society. Consequently, nationalism is an essential element of modernity and the most significant or relevant principle of political legitimacy.

As previously mentioned, nationalism can be defined as a sense of political fervor for an individual's country. This political zeal is a sentiment that influences the development of nations through binding together large groups of people. The large groups of people are bound together based on the idea that they share certain things in common such as ethnicity, culture, and religion. There are two different manifestations of nationalism i.e. divisive nationalism and unifying nationalism. Divisive nationalism refers to a form of political fervor that takes place when a larger country disintegrates into several nation-states while unifying nationalism takes place when members of politically different or unincorporated nations join to form a single nation or country (Lewis par, 2).

These differences in manifestation imply that nationalism is not necessarily an arousing of nations to self-consciousness but invention of nations where they are inexistent but through the use of pre-existing differentiating factors. Actually, nationalism requires positive and negative social foundations in order to occur and contribute to the development of nations. Positive social foundations refer to economies of scale in generating literate citizens through educational systems sponsored by the state whereas negative social foundations refers to a shared culture, which is more important in developing and maintaining social cohesion.

The concept of nationalism has attracted different views and opinions that have contributed to some controversies. The controversies are mainly attributed to the fact that some arguments regarding nationalism have disturbed conservatives and secular rationalists. Some of the reasons for these controversies include the belief that nationalism demotes religion to a secondary, unimportant, principle of a firm and legitimate political order, which challenges conventional conservatism. Secondly, nationalism generates controversies by presupposing that reason, material gain, law, social justice, and utility are secondary principles in the development and maintenance of steady and legal political order. This suggestion has attracted constant disapproval from rationalist liberals and socialists for a prolonged period of time i.e. 200 years (O'Leary, p.192).

Role of Nationalism in the Development of Nations in the 1900s

The development of nations in the 1900s was partly influenced by nationalism, which was an important factor in the development of Europe as a continent. Nationalism was a vital component in Europe's development following the emergence of romantic nationalism that became a common characteristic of the European continent and transformed its countries in the 19th Century. Countries like Romania, Italy, and Germany, which some of the newly formed nations in Europe during the 19th Century were developed through amalgamating regional states with a shared national identity. In contrast, other countries like Bulgaria, Poland, and Greece were developed through gaining independence. Nationalism not only defined but acted as a unifying factor in both scenarios i.e. joining states with a mutual national identity and gaining independence, especially in relation to a sense of nationality. The significance of nationalism in the development of nations in the 1900s is evident in various ways including

Mobilization

One of the roles of nationalism in the development of nations in the 1900s is mobilization of people with shared national identity and other important factors like ethnicity, religion, and culture.

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In the early phases, nationalism focused on political individualism and commercial, agricultural economy (Snyder, p.8). In attempts to develop an agricultural, commercial economy and political individualism, nationalism was used as a tool for mass mobilization of preindustrial and pre-commercial peasant individuals. The mobilization in turn played a crucial role in the unification of states or individuals with shared national identity as well as the quest for independence in some countries.

The development of nations in the 1900s would be difficult to realize without such mobilization. This is primarily because mobilization acted as the basis through which these individuals would exchange ideas and formulate plans that were geared towards creating a sense of national identity in the community. Moreover, the mobilization through nationalism acted as a platform through which the pre-commercial, preindustrial peasant people could express their desires, interests, and ideas in the development of a nation.

Unification

The role or significance of nationalism in the development of nations in the 1900s was unification of people and regional states with common national identity. For instance, nationalism contributed to the development of Germany through unifying some regional states in the 1900s. Actually, nationalism is regarded as the major factor in understanding people in and history of Germany in German history (Burke, p.136). While German nationalism is usually considered on the basis of problematic events like Nazism or National Socialism, nationalism played a crucial role in unifying regional states, which culminated in the development of the country. The country's national sentiment started when Napoleon united the German principalities from slightly below 400 to approximately 40 territorial units.

Even though these events contributed to destruction of the vanishing Holy Roman Empire and emergence of a similar enemy to the newly united regions, the first major effort towards unification was in 1848. As a result of nationalism, the unification and eventual formation of Germany took place in 1871 following the defeat of the liberals and their decline in politics. Therefore, the unification of these German territories that contributed to the formation and development of Germany was brought by nationalism.

Resistance to Imperialism

Nationalism played a significant role in the development of nations though enabling countries to resist European imperialism. Due to the emergence of nationalism and modernization, Japan and China resisted European imperialism in the 1900s. This resistance had a stimulating impact on nationalist movements throughout Asia, which in turn acted as the basis for the development of nations. The nationalist movements across this region contributed to the development of countries like Japan and China through promoting the development of economic growth. European imperialism was largely characterized by increased domination of several countries in Asia and other part of the world by European countries. Nationalism helped in promoting the development of nations in these regions by helping in mobilizing large groups of people who played a vital role in eliminating the domination of European countries. European powers exercised control over regional trade among indigenous merchants in parts of the Asian continent (Best, p.2).

Conflicts

Nationalism also influenced the development of nations in the 1900s through generating conflicts that escalated from specific regions to become global conflicts such as World War One and World War Two. These conflicts redefined the history of the European continent and other places in the world through shaping regional politics, economies, and other elements of political, social, and economic development. The aftermath of these conflicts influenced the development of nations in the 1900s since most of them utilized lessons they learned in the wars to foster gain a sense of national identity towards political, social, and economic development.

In conclusion, nationalism is the most powerful principle of political legitimacy given its role in the development of a steady and legitimate political order. The impact of nationalism in creating a legal and stable political order is attributed to the political fervor it generates towards a common sense of national identity. This concept played an important role in the development of nations in the 1900s through unification, mobilization, resistance to imperialism, and conflicts.

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