NATION AND
NATIONALISM
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Define nationalism in relation to the concepts of
nation, state, and nation-state;
• Appraise the development of nationalism in the
country; and
• Explain the relevance of nationalism and nation
building at present.
NATION,
STATE,
NATION-STATE
To better understand
nationalism, one must learn
first the concepts of nation
and nationhood as well as
state and nation-state.
Social scientists have fleshed
out the nuances of nation,
state and nation-state.
NATION
• A community of people that are believed to share
a link with one another based on cultural
practices, language, religion or belief system, and
historical experience.
• Simply put:
o A group of people that shares a common
culture, history, language, and other practices
like religion, affinity to a place, etc.
STATE
• A state is a community of persons more or less
numerous, permanently occupying a definite
portion of territory, having a government of their
own to which a great body of inhabitants render
obedience, and enjoying freedom from external
control.
NATION-STATE
• A territorially bounded sovereign polity—i.e.,
a state - that is ruled in the name of a community
of citizens who identify themselves as a nation.
• The legitimacy of a nation-state’s rule over a
territory and over the population inhabiting it
stems from the right of a core national group
within the state (which may include all or only
some of its citizens) to self-determination.
DEVELOPMENT OF NATION-STATES
• The origins and early history of nation-states are
disputed. Two major theoretical questions have been
debated. First, “Which came first, the nation or the
nation-state?” Second, “Is nation-state a modern or an
ancient idea?”
• Some scholars have advanced the hypothesis that the
nation-state was an inadvertent byproduct of 15th
century intellectual discoveries in political economy,
capitalism, mercantilism, political geography, and
geography combined together with cartography and
advances in map-making technologies.
• For others, the nation existed first, then nationalist
movements arose for sovereignty, and the nation-state was
created to meet that demand. Some “modernization
theories” of nationalism see it as a product of government
policies to unify and modernize an already existing state.
• Most theories see the nation-state as a modern European
phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-
mandated education, mass literacy, and mass media
(including print). However, others look for the roots of
nation-states in ancient times.
• Most commonly, the idea of a nation-state was and is
associated with the rise of the modern system of states,
often called the “Westphalian system” in reference to the
Treaty of Westphalia (1648).
• The balance of power that characterized that system
depended on its effectiveness upon clearly defined, centrally
controlled, independent entities, whether empires or
nation-states, that recognized each other’s sovereignty and
territory.The Westphalian system did not create the nation-
state, but the nation-state meets the criteria for its
component states.
NATIONALISM
• Nationalism is an ideology by people who believe
their nation is superior to all others. This sense of
superiority often has its roots in a shared
ethnicity.
• In other situations, nationalism is built around a
shared language, religion, culture, or set of social
values. The nation emphasizes shared symbols,
folklore, and mythology. Shared music, literature,
and sports may further strengthen nationalism.
NATIONALISM EXPLAINED
• How does nationalism work? Nationalists demand
to be independent of other countries.They don't
join global organizations or collaborate with other
countries on joint efforts. If the people are part of
another nation, then they will want freedom and
their own state.
• Because they believe in the superiority of their
shared attribute, nationalists often stereotype
different ethnic, religious, or cultural groups. The
resultant prejudice keeps their nation unified.
NATIONALISM VS. PATRIOTISM
• Nationalists believe their shared interests
supersede all other individual or group interests.
They oppose globalism and empires.
• They also rally against any philosophy, such as
religion, that supersedes national loyalties.
• They are not necessarily militaristic, but they may
quickly become so if threatened.
• Nationalists' feeling of superiority differentiates their
nationalism from patriotism. Patriotism equates to
pride in one's country and a willingness to defend it.
• Nationalism, on the other hand, extends that to
arrogance and potential military aggression.
• Nationalists believe they have a right to dominate
another nation because of their superiority. They feel
they are doing the conquered a favor. This encourages
militarism.
NATION AND NATIONALISM
• As mentioned, one major component of the
nation-state is the nation. This concept assumes
assumes that there is a bond that connects a
group of people together to form a community.
• Three theories about the roots of the nation are
presented:
o Primordialism
o Modernity
o Constructivist Approach
PRIMORDIALISM
• This theory traces the root of the nation and
national identity to existing and deep-rooted
features of a group of people like race, language,
religion and others.
• Proponents of this theory argued that a national
identity has always existed and nations have
ethnic cores, whereas division among citizens was
determined through dichotomizing 'us' and
"them".
MODERNITY
• Nationalism and national identity are products of
social structure and culture brought by capitalism,
urbanization, secularization, bureaucratization.
• It further posits that in pre-modern societies, the
rigid social hierarchies could accommodate
diversity in language and culture.
• Thus, in the modernist explanation, nationalism is
a political project.
CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH
• The constructivist theory states that national
identity is forged in response to social and
historical circumstances in which nationalism is
a method of finding replacements for the loss of
some cultural concepts.
• It maintains that nationalism is socially
constructed and imagined by people who identify
with a group.
IMAGINED COMMUNITIES
(BENEDICT ANDERSON
• Theorized the condition that led to the
development of nationalism in the 18th and 19th
centuries, particularly in the Americas, and famously
defined the nation as an “imagined community.”
• The nation is imagined, according to Anderson,
because it entails a sense of communion or
“horizontal comradeship” between people who
often do not know each other or have not even
met.
• Despite their differences, they imagine belonging to
the same collectivity, and they attribute to the latter
a common history, traits, beliefs, and attitudes.
• Anderson further defined this imagined community
as limited and sovereign: limited, because even the
largest nations recognize some boundaries and the
existence of other nations beyond them; sovereign,
because the nation replaced traditional kinship ties
as the foundation of the state.
• The fact that the nation is an imaginary construct
does not, however, mean that its political effect is
any less real.
• On the contrary, Anderson argued, this imagined
community creates a deep horizontal
comradeship, for which countless people have
willingly sacrificed themselves.
• Anderson also puts forward the important role
of mass media in the construction of nation
during that time and underscores the following:
o Fostered unified fields of communication
which allowed the millions of people within a
territory to “know” each other through
printed outputs and become aware that many
others identified with the same community.
o Standardized languages that enhanced feelings
of nationalism and community; and
o Maintained communication through a few
languages widely used in the printing press
which endured through time.
NATION AND BAYAN
• In the Philippines, many argue that the project of
nation-building is a continuing struggle up to the
present. Considering the country’s history,
historians posit that the 19th century brought a
tremendous change in the lives of the Filipinos,
including actual articulations of nation and
nationhood that culminated in the first anti-
colonial revolution in Asia led by Andres Bonifacio
and the Katipunan.
• Throughout Philippine history, the challenge of
building the Filipino nation has persisted,
impacted by colonialism, violent invasion during
World War II, a dictatorship, and the perennial
struggle for development.
• In the succeeding lessons, we will look into the
life and works of Rizal and try to map how the
historical events shaped the of national hero’s
understanding of nation and nationalism.
