Are Nations made by Human Effort or Nature - Essay Example

? Are Nations made by Human Effort or Nature? Are Nations made by Human Effort or Nature? Introduction Nations are the fundamental building blocks of global community as they are primarily responsible for giving birth to the global atmosphere. Every nation as a result of its unique history, ideology and geographical location contributes to the overall global picture. But, it is very interesting to know that humanity does not know precisely how the nations are formed. It appears that the process of formation of nations around the globe has not been a uniform one, and different factors have been shaping the formation of various nations. This topic is definitely serving as a focal point of debate among socialists; while some of them are of the view that nations develop naturally, others think that human effort plays a significant role in forming nations, which in turn constitute international society. This research effort will be evaluating both the above-mentioned approaches in order to give a clearer picture of the nation developmental mechanism. Still, it is imperative to note that national development is a complex process, which could be defined as a procedure that motivates a certain group of people towards living under same flag or identity (Brierly, n.d). The key elements that are known to play important roles in the development of a nation will be discussed in the upcoming section of the study. Literature Review According to a number of social scientists, the process of a nation's birth or development occurs when a certain group wants to achieve a purpose, which compels them to stick together and with the passage of time they emerge as a nation (Gellner, n.d). In the light of above citation, it could be assumed that the unity of purpose is definitely an important ingredient of a nation's development (Morganthau, n.d). In the view of Brubaker, (1998), the current form of nationalism theory is laying over-due emphasis on importance of land in terms of building a nation but, according to the above-mentioned scholar, nations are developed as a result of having a unified purpose and goal. Yet, the same study added that nationalism theory is an incomplete document because, it has failed to acknowledge key elements, which are deemed necessary for effective formation of nations. For instance, Israel had been conceptualized and later formed in order to give Jews their first homeland. It is also interesting to know that every Jew residing in the world is considered as Israel's citizen. The previous argument reinforces the fact that nations are developed for a purpose. The dark side of nationalism also exists; which caused significant number of killings of soldiers in London. The killings were conducted, so that one nation could prevail at the expense of another. But, it is quite ironic that both of the nations exist till date; therefore it can be assumed that once a nation develops, it is almost impossible to wipe it from the face of earth (Lodge 1919). The history is however, filled with examples of people who attempted to abolish certain groups but they failed to do so. The evergreen instance of the aforementioned attitude is Adolf Hitler, who attempted to abolish Jews on the basis of racial hatred; despite his energy and military power, he could not achieve his objective. Rather Hitler's rage assisted ethnically dispersed groups of Jews into becoming world's most powerful nation. The development of Jews as a nation is an everlasting example of human thinking and efforts which are important for developing a nation. Hitler had a plan to eradicate Jews from the world, but his hate helped the Jews in growing as a unified force in the world, which is an ultimate goal of any nation. In the case of America, the indigenous residents of the area were brutally killed, so that white people could be settled to form a new nation. Therefore it appears logical to assume that almost every nation is developed to provide a safe homeland for a certain religious, ethnic and intellectual group. This paper on the other hand, finds the business of nations' development awfully brutal because, lots of people have lost their lives to develop nations. In some cases, nations have been known to come into being peacefully; yet overwhelmingly great number of nations have emerged and developed after a notable and historical bloodshed. In the view of this research effort, the nations are just codenames for societal systems that are designed in order to provide protection to a specific group of people. Painfully, most of the wars in the past were fought due to nationalism, which caused one nation to brutalize another in the name of righteousness and patriotism. Based on this argument, the concept of nationalism appears to be the primary cause of many wars and therefore, it should be considered as a dangerous concept. Nationalism, on the positive side, provides identity and self-respect to several social groups (Paul & Venables, 1995). Some of the nations are based on ethnicity while, others are developed in the name of religion. But, nationalism gets extremely dangerous, when one nation falls into the fallacy that it is right and the current enemy nation is wrong; therefore, it should plunge into war, in order to get rid of the foe. The attacker however, fails to consider war as a source of bringing destruction and sorrow. It is necessary for nations to learn the art of peace (Landes, 1998), which should be taught through promoting tolerance of viewpoints. Furthermore, most of the wars were indeed religious; therefore it is of utmost importance that religious centers are kept under supervision so that they cannot promote hate and social distaste in the society. Moreover, nations are supposed to support international trade, which would prove mutually beneficial for all the parties involved. The practice of sharing a profit will soon transform into the habit of sharing and respecting values of each other. In this way, nations can get rid of distances and help the cause of developing a true global village in near future (Alesina & Spotore, 1997). Finally, if somehow these nations stop fighting they could see that they share each other’s problems such as global warming, unemployment and recession (Garelli 2003), as a result they will be motivated towards solving the above mentioned problems together (Cosgrove 2009). Findings The term nationalism is invented in order to give certain groups a sense of identity. But, this concept promoted hate and distastefulness among various countries that in turn caused bloody and violent wars in the past. This paper finds that nationalism is a very dangerous concept which should be kept in check, so that it does not result in aim-less wars. Another fact that is worth mentioning is the bloodshed involved in developing new nations, as was seen in developing U.S where people were displaced and killed in the process of developing the US nation. Conclusion This research concludes that nations are built and developed primarily by human effort. The developmental process associated with a nation initiates in order to fulfill a certain mission. At the same time it should be kept in mind that sometimes harsh realities and unfavorable circumstances favor the nourishment of nationalist ideas in a group of people. This was seen in response to the disastrous measures taken by Adolf Hitler against the Jews. Hitler attempted to destroy the Jew community, but in reality he gave Jews the purpose to live and die for. Finally, they are the humans who make or break a nation. At the end, this paper requests global community to gather forces in order to eliminate hunger, poverty and environmental concerns from the world instead of only promoting nationalism. References Alesina, A., & Spotore, E.1997. On the Number and Size of Nations. The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol 112(4), pp.1027-1056. Brierly, J. n.d.. Character of Modern System. Brubaker, R. 1998. Myths and misconception in the study of nationalism. In J. Hall, The State of the nations pp.273-305. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Cosgrove, S. 2009. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. AMUNC 2009, pp.1-7. Garelli, S. 2003. Competitiveness of nations: the fundamentals. i m d World Competitiveness Yearbook, pp.702-713. Gellner, E.(n.d.. Nations and Nationalism. Landes, D. 1998. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: Norton. Lodge, H. 1919. The Senate and the League of Nations. The Senate and the League of Nations , pp.1-3 Morganthau, H. n.d.. The Struggle of Power and Peace. Boston: Mcgrew Hill. Paul, K., & Venables, A. 1995. Globalization and the Inequality of Nations. The Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol 110(4), pp.857-880. Read More