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.

---

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.

---

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:

Concept	Definition
Nation	A community of people who share a common identity and sense of belonging
State	A political entity with sovereignty over a defined territory (government, laws, armed forces)
Nation-state	A state whose borders coincide with the boundaries of a nation — the nationalist ideal

Many states contain multiple nations (e.g., the UK contains English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish identities), and many nations are divided across multiple states (e.g., the Kurds are spread across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria).

2. Self-Determination

Self-determination is the principle that each nation has the right to determine its own political destiny — usually through the creation of a sovereign nation-state.

Self-determination was championed by:

• Woodrow Wilson (US President) at the end of World War I, who proposed that the post-war settlement should be based on the self-determination of peoples.
• Anti-colonial movements in the 20th century, which demanded independence from European empires.
• The United Nations, which enshrines the right of peoples to self-determination in its Charter.

3. Organic Community

Nationalists typically view the nation as an organic community — a natural, living entity that has evolved over time, not an artificial construct. This is similar to the conservative concept of organic society, but applied to the national level.

• Nations have a history, culture, and destiny that transcend the lives of individual members.
• Belonging to a nation provides individuals with identity, meaning, and solidarity.
• The nation is often described in emotional and spiritual terms — the "fatherland," the "motherland," the "homeland."

4. Culturalism

Nationalism emphasises the importance of culture — language, literature, music, art, customs, and traditions — as the foundation of national identity. Many nationalist movements began as cultural revivals before becoming political movements:

• The Irish literary revival (W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory) was part of the broader Irish nationalist movement.
• The Gaelic League promoted the Irish language as a symbol of national identity.
• The Grimm Brothers collected German fairy tales as part of a broader project of German cultural nationalism.

---

Historical Origins