Nationalism and International Relations

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Nationalism and International Relations

• Revision Class

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Today we will

• Review key concepts
• Discuss exam writing techniques
• Practice Answer Session

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What is nationalism?

• A doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of
  the nineteenth century
• It asserts that humanity may be divided into
  nations and on this basis claims to provide
• (1) a criterion for determining the unit of
  population proper to enjoy a government
  exclusively its own
• (2) for the legitimate exercise of power in the
  state and
• (3) for the right organization of the society of
  states

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The Problem of Nationalism

• Yet, while the ideology of nationalism has
  inspired many hitherto subject peoples, it offers
  little practical guidance in determining which
  collectivities may reasonably claim a right to
  sovereignty and which may not.
• Why? Because the nation remains a fundamentally
  contested concept
• As a result, this is an imperfect solution of the
  ancient problem where does sovereignty lie?

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The Nation as a Contest Concept

• The nation can be defined in a variety of ways
  with very different political consequences
• Civic vs Ethnic
• Modernist vs Primordialist

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Civic Nations

• Defined by pre-existing jurisdiction and shared
  political institutions (plebiscite / uti
  posseditis juris)
• Fits experience of English, French and American
  revolutionaries
• Juridical (Peoples) Self-Determination
• The state makes the nation
• Policies of assimilation towards minorities

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Ethnic Nations

• Defined by purportedly natural sociological
  characteristics and seeks to remake political map
  accordingly(secession / irredentism)
• Fits experience of Central, Eastern and Southern
  European revolutionaries
• National Self-Determination
• Nation makes (or breaks) the state
• Polices of elimination towards minorities

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Nationalism and other Ideologies

• Nationalism has also had an ambiguous and
  sometimes even adversarial relationship with
  rival ideologies
• Liberalism vs Nationalism contests on the
  relationship between the individual and group
• Communism vs Nationalism contests the
  relationship between universalism and pluralism
• Fascism versus Nationalism contests the
  relationship between Race and Nation

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National Self-Determination

• Woodrow Wilson 1919
• Basis for decolonization in Europe and creation
  of a more just and lasting territorial settlement
• Never intended to apply outside Europe
• Application there contradictory both
  plebiscites, ethnography and real politik
• Committee on New States became known as
  committee on New States and National Minorities
• League of Nations System of Minority Guarantees

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Peoples Right to Self-Determination

• United Nations Charter
• Peoples defined juridicaly
• Basis for decolonization in Africa and Asia and
  later also recognition of new states following
  end of Cold War (break-up of Soviet Union,
  Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia)

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Who may claim self-determination today?

• (1) mandated territories, trust territories, and
  other territories considered to be self-governing
  according to chapter XI of the UN Charter (Palau
  1994)
• (2) distinct jurisdictions subject to carence de
  souverainete (e.g., Bangladesh? Kosovo?)
• (3) territories in which self-determination is
  agreed through democratic negotiation or
  plebiscite (Slovakia and Czech Republic, Serbia
  and Montenegro)
• (4) highest level constituent units of a federal
  state in the process of dissolution or break-up
  according to the principle of uti posseditis
  iuris (e.g., Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
  Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro)
• (5) and formerly independent entities reasserting
  their independence with at least the tacit
  consent of the established state in which
  incorporation was either illegal or of
  questionable legality (e.g., Latvia, Lithuania
  and Estonia)

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The Future of Nationalism

• Despite these legal niceties, many sociological
  groups continue to aspire to independent
  statehood
• Many others clamour for recognition of their
  distinctiveness within existing states (national
  minorities and indigenous peoples)
• Result nationalism remains a potential source of
  instability and conflict within and between
  states
• Consequently, international society continues to
  struggle with issues arising from nationalism

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Q A

• Do you have any specific questions or points of
  clarification related to the syllabus?