Nationalism

Disclaimer: Many opinions of this post are written from a one sided view. Many of the situations used as examples here are in a way ‘cherry-picked’ to better explain my arguments. To every argument I provide, there are many individuals who believe and act to the exact opposite of what I said. This is a side I may look at later in the future but for the moment I will only focus on sides to get my point across. Any countering arguments readers may have are open to suggestion and I would look forward to hearing them. Additionally, as many of these arguments i give are supported with Trump related examples I would like to add: I am in no way attempting to bring down the image of Trump or anyone mentioned, I solely use the examples I do because they are situations which allow me to better explain my reasoning.

Nationalism is represented in every country. Be it in a large amount, such as the Nazi pride in WW2-era Germany or a large portion of American citizens. Nationalism has many, MANY benefits; allows a self-sufficient state to exist, gives the state a sense of individuality, the ability to rally its citizens to action when certain situations present themselves, among many more. However, nationalism also has its consequences. While the consequences exist no matter the level of nationalism present, I believe the larger and more powerful the sense of nationalism, the more powerful the consequences become.

The largest consequence stems from various smaller effects of nationalism, not all necessarily negative, which coagulate into something that can cause more harm than good. With this, I will start with the smaller effects and build up towards the conglomerate, as well as use the United States as an example. One thing the US has that a majority of the country supports is freedom, and the ability to hold ones own thoughts, beliefs, and do what they feel is right (to an extent). Paired with nationalism, this can be a great thing; it can allow the countries citizens to build their own ideals for their country, and subsequently build their own trust for the country. This is a cornerstone feature of nationalism. As the citizens build their own trust and confidence in their country, they become more prideful and confident in their countries place in the world. This results in individuals who hold so much pride, they believe their country is the top dog, better than any other country. This belief is something that is not exactly a negative thing in its own, but can combine to become something that is. This is the first effect of nationalism that plays a role.

The next effect, which is loosely related to the recent effect, is the result of sovereignty in the country. Sovereignty in a country is something that is very important, when implemented right, as is (was?) the case in the US. This has always been a controversial opinion, not necessarily the sovereignty itself, but the opinion of who should hold the power; something that was solved through a republic system. However, lately this has become a more substantial issue, such as with the election of Donald Trump as president. Not only has his election made this a larger issue, but it has also had a negative effect on the countries nationalism. First, lets look at how sovereignty has become a larger issue in recent years. Many of the citizens back in 2016 were against the election of Trump (although the same is said for Clinton), and today the amount of citizens has only grown. Several decisions made by Trump have resulted in questioning of if he should be the one in charge of making choices for the country, be it for better or worse. While every president makes choices which people are against, it appears to happen more frequently than in past times (arguably I only have a limited amount of years of experience in this area). Even worse, these choices have also further promoted nationalism, to the point where it is almost damaging.

One last factor that is a result of nationalism is a somewhat smaller one in theory, but is fueled by the country as a whole, and that is the belief of individuality and the drive to be self-sufficient. This plays back slightly to the first factor with the belief that they are the best country in the world, but has a different outcome. This is more a result of when nationalism reaches a certain threshold, and begins to boil over with the potential to either explode or decrease to safer levels. One thing that may or may not be related to nationalism itself is a country’s ideas of how self-sufficient they should be. Personally, I believe that these two variables, nationalism and the ‘ideal’ level of self-sufficiency, are a positively related correlation. As a country begins to become more proud of itself, some are more likely to believe they do not need the help of other countries, and will become more productive within the nation to make up for a lack of exterior supplies. One instance of self-sufficiency being pushed farther is with Trump’s recent trade embargos. The belief that the outside trade is not needed because the country’s leader believes they can exist without any help. While if this is done correctly, it could be a positive thing, however this is not often the case. In many situations, this will only divide the countries, potentially creating angst and hatred for each other. Individuality itself is not something to be feared, but when it spreads over into isolation instead, it will start to do more harm than good.

I have presented three general factors that can result from nationalism: freedom paired with nationalism, sovereignty, and individuality or self-sufficiency. Alone and at moderate levels, these can all be greatly beneficial to a country, allowing it to prosper and grow. But at higher levels [of intensity when held by an individual or group] can result in more harmful consequences. However, before I focus on how harmful consequences can emerge, it is important for me to mention the areas I believe can be at risk. One vitally important factor to the continuing existence of the human race is unity. Unity not only between the citizens of a country, but the citizens of all countries. Every human on earth should be in coexistence, as well as with the Earth itself. If the people of our planet worked together and were not competing against each other to the end of the world*, then many of the worlds problems could be targeted and solved. Worldwide famine and disease could be a thing of the past, but this will never occur with extreme nationalism, with the idea of self-sufficiency. America as a country is too proud to be able to help the poorer nations, instead it focuses on the capitalistic market and making money to become the top dog.

The unity between nations is what I believe is the largest consequences of nationalism. Pride in one’s country is important nonetheless, but it is often taken to the point where it starts dividing the countries, and doing more harm than good. While the various supporting factors i used previously took a paragraph each to explain, I believe this main consequence can be summed up a good amount. Freedom paired with nationalism allows individuals to keep pushing their own idealistic beliefs of what it means to be a highly positioned country, and what they need to do to protect it. This leads to isolation from other countries, not only cutting off their own imported goods but their exported goods as well, which may be a vital part of a smaller countries economy. This can result in the collapse of countries and its people, killing off entire cultures. Another thing that can be pushed with freedom is the idea of how far a countries sovereignty should reach. It may over extend towards the belief that they are doing other countries good by taking control of them and implementing their own leaders, such as the US has done many times with regimes in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Cuba, or many other countries. This is not unity, but instead a takeover to try to push their own agenda. As a country feels more pride for themselves, more nationalistic, they begin to think they hold more power and should try to increase it from there.

With all of these factors within nationalism, I hope to have presented a valid argument on how it can have many disadvantages, although only when certain limits are hit. Nationalism itself is not a negative thing, and can be a great source of progress, both economic and scientific, but it can also divide countries and create a sort of elitism within. This elitism could be what pushes countries to their ends, resulting in things that may be feared to come, such as a war or secret allegiance between Germany and the US.

*Competition can be beneficial, driving other countries to excel in different areas, but only to a (peaceful) limit