Nation Building and Nationalism - Essay Example

Nation Building An Analysis Nationalism is a sentiment that has captured the collective imagination scholars, philosophers and colonial powers for centuries. This sentiment has been echoed by the common masses on occasions where there has been an impetus to rise against a threat to their sense of national identity. The past two centuries have been the most important in the history of the world as far as nationalism is concerned. This is due to the fact that this period has been dotted by revolutions that have defined, conceptualised, and redefined the very basis of nationalism and its allied elements. To begin with, it is imperative to define nationalism. A force that is capable of rendering a national character to any uprising or event, nationalism is a phenomenon that permeates into the very core of a citizen's life. This has been studied in context of the book by Charles Tilly titled European Revolutions (1993) Hypothesis The hypothesis of this paper is the study of similarities and differences between UK, France and Russia as far as the aspects of the journey from revolution to nationalism is concerned, as discussed and hypothesized by Charles Tilly. These similarities and differences will be studied on the basis of the following three aspects: Internal problems in terms of the socio political structure; Federalism; Participation in the political decision process. The basic hypothesis as put forth by Tilly throughout the book is that Europe is still in the making. Here, it is imperative to understand democracy so as to understand the ends of this journey and the point of the hypothesis. Democracy has been best defined as "of the people, for the people, by the people." It is a phenomenon that arises out of the various contextual realities that people represent in various walks of life as well as the socio economic strata of individual countries. To qualify as a democracy, a country must fulfil the following criteria: " - political standing; quality of life; explanation." (Tilly, 2007; Pp 6)1 Nationalism According to Tilly, Nationalism as a feature on any country's historical or cultural climate rises to the fore as a result of threats. It is only when confronted with a threat, does a country - made up of its people and their collective sentiments - wake up and recognise their strengths. This has been seen in the case of colonial expansion as followed by France and UK. These countries, with UK garnering maximum areas around the world by 1921, based their foreign policy of nationalism around colonization. France, in particular was a competitor for UK with its policy of colonization. These in effect become the strength of the nation and nationalism is born. (Tilly, 1993; P 10) In this way, nationalism is defined, anew; every time there is suffering followed subsequently by an upheaval. As a result of this, nationalism or nation building can be called dynamic concept. This is owing to the fact that its elements change with the changing times and the reasons for upheavals. (Elias, 2000)2 The only thing constant about nationalism is its power to bind people together as a nation and the fact that it rises to prominence only in the face of adversity. In modern times, nationalism has become a matter of celebrating everything that a nation takes pride in. This includes independence days, art, literature, music and various other symbols that are a part of the national character as a whole - elements that remind nations of its past victories and present strengths. (Almond et al, 2001)3 Essentials of Revolution Tilly maintains that a revolution is a social movement. He argues that a social movement is one that is punctuated with a highly idealistic environment with realistic parameters that set the stage for immediate results and emergence of future trends that will go onto dominate the structure and functioning of that particular society for generations to come. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 47 - 48) Issues like principles, revolutionary change and personal strength and a search for identity of a group of people or society, are synonymous with social movements. For the measurement of success of any social movement, factors like skilful organization, optimum use of resources and the identification of opportunities, are vital indicators. (Gellner, 2006)4 Literature has always been a strong medium to convey the ideas that are contained in social movement. This has been aptly defined and presented in Tilly's book based on revolution. Analysis: Comparison and Contrast of Nation Building and Democratic Process Internal Problems in the Socio Political Structure The French Revolution was an upheaval that was marked by the formal birth of what we call nationalism. Spanning over a decade (1789 to 1799), this Revolution had a strong socio political dimension to it. The embodiment of nationalism in this revolution arose as a matter of its ability to define the elements that would support the construction of a democratic society free of feudal patterns. This was at the behest of the citizens from every quarter of the French society, who wanted to break free of the double standards that were being imposed on their way of life in the form of the Church's intervention and the dictatorship of the aristocratic class. The revolution was an eye opener for the rest of world as regards rights and duties that must be equally distributed among the citizens of a nation irrespective of religion or socio economic standing. This in itself was a new definition of nationalism, where earlier the same concept had been seen as a word that was used to describe the national character through its history and artistic work. (Almond et al, 2001) In this regard, the main problems were posed by the tax on nobles as well as the separation of government that was an outcome of the ravages of the revolution. In comparison, the character of the state and national building in the case of UK may be defined as the ability of the state to do the following according to Tilly's arguments: Create the scope for the use of elements that define the basic policy to be followed by the state. The ability to define its relations within and outside the state on the basis of these policies. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 104 - 107) Social movement has played the role of a course of action in relevant spheres that will propagate and adhere to the chosen policy framework within which the state defines itself in UK. This has been furthered during the Industrial Revolution as well as the conflict nature of Ireland and Scotland. UK remained in conflict with these two areas, and there was internal conflict in these two areas as well. As a society that has been in conflict since the 1920s, Northern Ireland almost has a legacy of violence attached to every walk of its life. Scotland, on the other hand went through the Industrial Revolution as well as the Scottish Enlightenment to become an intellectual and industrial power to reckon with. The decline of Scotland started during and after World War II. (Almond et al, 2001) It may be seen that the turn of events in the political events as well as the international history of UK and France, demonstrate differences in the implementation and the very definition of the character of state. The union of UK and Scotland was a positive outcome of the war while France met the emergencies born out of the revolution through taxation policies as well as the separation of the government. In this regard, Russia's basic focus remained on participation within the government through the oust of the Tsar regime as the beginning of its turbulent times. (Almond et al, 2001) Federalism While both UK and France have embraced the ideals of federalism in keeping with the changing nature of the character of the state in the modernized arena of international relations and politics, it may be seen that the character of state differs for both nations in terms of the implementation of this ideal. While UK's outlook depends more on the conscious evolution of new ideals within the political structure, the role of the parliament as modified by non-official participants has a larger role to play in the definition of the character of the state. This is apparent in the parliamentarian system that rules UK after the eleven revolutionary decades as discussed by Tilly's book (Tilly, 1993; Pp 122 - 126). In this regard, France took to the official policy participant system in its public administration while Russia stuck to the non official participant even in its party system. This argument has a lot to do with the fact that UK and France reached a decision of simplification of the political process, while Russia's response to the challenge of creating national sovereignty and globalization was delayed in context of its basic policy of dictatorship. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 106 - 107) Political legitimacy was a firm belief that emanated from various political quarters following the French Revolution in this country. Federalism is essentially a concept surrounded by political philosophy in the politics of France. This has special importance as far as sovereignty is concerned within the nation and the rest of Europe. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 142 - 143) According to this concept put forth by Tilly (1993), a nation that follows federalism is one that believes in binding it various people, from diverse corners of the world, together. After revolution, these two nations have followed federalism to develop their parliamentarian process. Federalism is that system which brings people together under the able guidance of a representative who puts forward their issues without an iota of partiality. (Almond et al, 2001) Under federalism, the nation looks at each of its citizens as equals and as brothers who are bound together geographically as well as in respect of national sentiment. The nation thus follows federalism is one that follows the principles irrespective of age, caste, creed, race, origin or color. The basic nature that has come up in the definition of the state in the case of France as well as UK is one that adheres to the structuring of an international culture and society for politics that has to do with the building and propagation of new ideals. This has been well administered in France and UK through the use of federalism so as to garner support and ideas from various quarters. This is found lacking in the system that developed within Russia (Tilly, 1993; Pp 106 - 108) Participation in the Political Decision Process Another concept that has branched out from federalism is that of cooperative federalism. According to this school of thought, the best course of action is to establish a strong network of consumer cooperative societies through which cooperative wholesale societies will be formed in order to undertake the purchase of farms and factories. According to federal cooperatives, the proceeds and profits thereof would be paid as dividends to the member cooperatives instead of the workers. (Gellner, 2006) This has been a major part of the definition of the nature of the state in France as well as UK. Having studied the various aspects of federalism, it would be imperative to state that the parliamentarian process in France and UK is greatly influenced by this concept of federalism. (Almond et al, 2001) In the case of France, through the proponents of federalism, the role of political players as well as official participants in the parliamentarian process is clearly etched out with mass public representation. Federalism not only binds people and their efforts together, it also provides a platform where issues can be addressed and solved. This has given an impetus to the process of following the correct direction in public policy making within UK. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 142 - 145) In a total contrast to France and UK, Russia took a while to come into the peace mode following the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Civil War thereafter. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 216 - 218) According to the hypothetical revolution approach used by Tilly, one can study the case of Russia according to a model of rebellion and war - war and rebellion. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 187 - 188) This was spearheaded by an encouragement of statesmanship, which essentially defined the character of Russia in terms of sovereignty and the ideal of a consolidating state as set forth by Tilly's argument (Tilly, 1993; Pp 161). In this regard, the Russian state's character has come to rest increasingly on the generation of public policy. (Almond et al, 2001) This must not be confused by the more federal approach taken by France or UK in their parliamentarian process. In the case of Russia, public administration comes before the parliament and it may be defined as that state of things or action where the public authorities exercise their freedom of choice in order to deal with certain issues. Conclusion In conclusion, according to the above analysis, one can see that the basic similarities and differences spring from the state's character and how it has been defined in terms of federalism, participation in the political process as well as the internal problems in the socio political structure. The most pronounced differences can be seen in terms of participation in the political process, while the maximum number of similarities are in federalism as well as the internal problems. As far as the state's character definition is concerned, the role of public policy within Russia has also been defined as a set of decisions that are interrelated to one another. (Gill, 2003)5 Political parties in turn, take these decisions, as well as other individuals involved in social service, with the broad aim of selection of certain goals that will fit into the situation at hand. In this regard, France and UK differ. The parliamentarian has been implemented to various aspects of one's public and domestic life, including welfare, health, justice, feminist policies, and interest group conflict, among various others. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 187 - 188) In this context, the participants in the public administration and parliamentarian process may be segregated into two categories in Russia. The first are the official participants comprising of government officials, authorities as well as political players. On the other hand are the non governmental or unofficial participants who come in the form of social workers, individuals lobbying for the interests of certain pressure groups, and even the average citizen. There are various aspects of the policy process in Russia. (Gill, 2003) On the other hand, when embodied in a person's life as a profession, the policy process in UK and France becomes a matter of drawing on statistical information and basing decisions on various kinds of analysis before arriving at the factors that will influence the elements to be included in a certain policy. (Tilly, 1993; Pp 198 - 200) References 1. Tilly, Charles (1993). European Revolutions; 1492 - 1992. Blackwell Publishing. 2. Almond, Gabriel A., Dalton, Russell J., and Powell, Jr., G. Bingham (2001). European Politics Today (2nd Edition). Longman. 3. Elias, N. (2000) The Civilising Process [vol.2]: State formation and Civilisation, Blackwell Publishing. 4. Gellner, E. (2006) Nations and Nationalism, Blackwell. 5. Gill, G. (2003) The Nature and Development of the Modern State, Palgrave Macmillan. Read More