Nationalism: Origins and Core Principles

This lesson examines nationalism — the second "additional" ideology in the Edexcel A-Level Politics specification. Nationalism is one of the most powerful political forces in the modern world, yet it is also one of the most diverse and contested. It can be progressive and liberating or aggressive and exclusionary, depending on the context.

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What Is Nationalism?

Nationalism is a political ideology that holds that the nation is the most important unit of political organisation, and that each nation has the right to self-determination — the right to govern itself, usually through its own state.

At its simplest, nationalism asserts two things:

1. Nations exist — humanity is divided into distinct national communities with shared characteristics.
2. Nations should govern themselves — each nation has the right to its own sovereign state.

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Key Concepts

1. The Nation

The nation is a community of people who share a common identity, typically based on some combination of:

• Language
• Culture and traditions
• History and collective memory
• Territory (homeland)
• Ethnicity or descent
• Religion
• Shared political values

The nation is not the same as the state: