The building of a nation is a complex and lengthy process. There is no step-by-step plan, nor a prescribed formula. It is a combination of features, structures and socially constructed norms. A ‘nation’ is an intrinsically ambiguous term. Questions consistently arise like, ‘who defines a nation?’ and ‘what defines a nation?’ The building of a nation explicitly links with the modern state, ethnicity and industrialisation. Ethnicity is a key feature of this and synonymous with identity, it is the most important factor in the forming of a nation. In analysing identity through language and religion, we will find that it is vital to the stability of the state that there is common linguistic understanding and a respect of religious differences. This will allow us to look at identity, language, centre periphery and religion, before concluding that identity and ethnicity the most important features of nation building. Nation building, from the Treaty of Westphalia up until 1900s, was based upon building bigger nations out of smaller ones. Most simply, a nation is bound together by a sense of belonging and a shared common good. Often this definition becomes blurred, and it is in the challenging of one of these elements that a nation fails. Imperialism (and, in the late nineteenth century, unification) was present and saw smaller entities being combined to build larger ones. Post-WWI, the trend was away from 'Empires ' of many ethnicities and instead towards smaller, ethnically
When it comes to the world stage of historical education and educators, Jackson Lears would be considered a major player because of his prowess and overall skill as a historian. As a matter of fact, Jackson Lears is a well-renowned writer and historian in the United States of America and has extended many ties from himself to prestigious colleges and writing organizations across the United States. Lears has quite the record for his education, receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia, his Master’s from North Carolina, and his Ph.D. from Yale. He’s held a teaching position at Rutgers University as a professor of history since
After the Revolutionary War, a sprouting and unstable nation was left in the hands of the Founding Fathers. Among them rose a leader, George Washington, who became the first President of the United States. The 1790s were years filled with the nation’s leaders trying to find ways for the new country to become stable, how to handle the economy, and how to manage both manage domestic and foreign affairs. As each problem arose, so did the different opinions regarding handling of these issues. These powerful opinions lead to divisions between the country’s government and its people, known as political parties. The struggle to gain stability and control the potential power of the new nation was a difficult task for the political leaders in the
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Aristotle. The world is better together, as a whole, than it is made up by each country individually, separated and fending for themselves, with no one support from one another. We are currently living in a divided world. Either divided over power, race, religion, and so much more. We read the news daily, wondering why we cannot accept each other and move forward. We wonder why we are all trying to win the “war of division” separately, not relying on other people that believe in the same thing we do. This “war of division,” despite the contrary, is one we have been facing since the start of our country. From the day we won our war of independence to today, we fight issues on our own, but what
What forms a nation is something that is quantified differently depending on the argument, some having do with natural land boundaries, some having to do with an ethnic background, some with a religious background and others still having do with blood. A nation is a group of people who collectively have something that unites them. For Pearson, a nation is an organized whole in a constant struggle with others through efforts to make the nation intelligent and homogeneous. This means that a nation can only have one type of member forming its populations, the highly intelligent superior race fulfilling every role in society. A nation has to struggle within as a nation against all other nations to prove to themselves that they were the best and
Cultural identity can be characterized by many factors. However, one of the most important factors that characterized culture is national identity. Language and communication also play an important role in determining culture identity. However, studies have shown that there are many other factors in which
Post-independence, the western hemisphere progressed away from European colonial power. This authority shift led to the creation of nations, which are groups of people unified by common descent, culture, or language, a particular country or territory. Consequently, the ideology of nation building, which can be defined as the process of building or rebuilding state institutions to create a sustainable and legitimate state, became widespread .
The role of warfare played a tremendous role in the nineteenth-century efforts of nation building. Warfare gave rise to an increase of self-pride within people, known as nationalism, which allowed the people within countries to unite and further expand for the greater good of their country. Warfare was used by countries like Italy, Germany, and Great Britain to build their nations by attempting to unify there territories and establish their own governments with force. Warfare was used to unite territories under one power, increase a country’s borders, and to implement fear into other countries to ensure that proper diplomatic processes were met to prevent invasion.
Nationalism is the cause of many disagreements between nations. Nationalism puts a nation in the position of thinking that their nation is superior to another and that their beliefs are what should be followed. Each nation believes and has different perspectives on a political topic. These nation states each stand for what they believe in and are fueled by the idea of power, ww1 in the early 1900’s created a competition between the nations. The nations then look to see where they can improve and compare themselves to other nations and where they may be lacking. Due to industrial revolution of germany is put at a greater stance military wise. Nations were then
Firstly, a nation can be defined by ethnicity and culture. This is the belief behind ethno-cultural nationalism. Ethno-cultural nationalism gives a very crude and simplistic
What is a nation-state? A nation-state is defined as a type of political organization in which a group of relatively homogenous people live in one area under one government, and its development actually traces back to the Middle Ages. Medieval Europe was unified by the Roman Catholic Church, a powerful, but corrupt, institution. This corruption, coupled with the Renaissance spirit, led to increasing dissatisfaction with the Church and sparked the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. These revolutionary ideas created conflicts between rulers, especially the triumph of the Protestant German princes over Charles V in 1555, which laid the foundations for the first true nation-states, France, Germany, and Italy, centuries later.
Religious identity can come in two forms, one from a nation of people all believing in the same values and another from the personal view of each individual or family within that nation. In a family or local community sense, it ties the smaller community together against its neighbouring ethnicities. It provides a feeling of togetherness and strength for the society. It is the basis for 'ethnic honour: the excellence of one's own customs and the inferiority of alien ones' (Weber, cited in Bruce 1996, p. 96). Religious identity brings great pride and hope to the citizens of any particular society and lends itself towards social cohesion (Browne 2005).
“Us and Them” by Jerry Muller discusses the pervasive, historical, and growing significance of ethnic nationalism in politics; “Is Ethnic Conflict Inevitable?” contains two responses to Muller’s article by James Habyarimana et. al. and Richard Rosecrance et. al. Muller and his critics reach radically different conclusions the role of ethnic nationalism. Such differences can be explained by their assumptions of ethnic identity formation. The three’s disparities on ethnic conflict result from different theories of identity, namely: Muller to primordialism, Habyarimana to constructivism, and Rosecrance to a rational instrumentalism.
The concept of nationalism is in essence an odd organization that has had significant impacts in world history through shaping the political and social aspects of the society. As an important aspect in the development of the society, the concept of nationalism has basically been analyzed based on its impact on the emergence of nation-states across the globe. In most cases, these analyses have been conducted to determine the influence of nationalism on imperial breakdown i.e. the dissolution of empires. While the actual extent of the impact of nationalism on the imperial breakdown is uncertain, this concept has played a major role in the dissolution of empires. Generally, the transition to nationalism has contributed to significant effects in world history through shaping the political and social aspects of the society.
A nation is said to exist when it could traced its origins through the state, in which it associate itself with, histories. Additionally, the cultural elites must be established and well-versed in writing and speaking the national language. There must also be a valid reason for its claim on a certain territory. It is only when these three requirements are fulfilled will the international community consider their claim for a nation (Hobsbawm, 1990: 37). Disagreements, however, tend to arise in the political community over the definition of a nation. This essay will try to list out the different approaches employed in defining a nation starting from a nation being a natural cultural entity to it being politically and
A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, language and ethnic origin often possessing or seeking its own government. National identity refers to the distinguish features of group and to the individual’ sense of belonging to it. In some case even a little difference in pronunciation is enough to categorize a person as a member of different nation but in some cases two people may be separated by language, culture, geographical location etc categorized in