Nationalism

First off, lets start with a basis of what nationalism is. Nationalism is an ideology that involves an individual's attachment to one's nation, or the individual identifying with that nation. It involves national identity. A similar ideology, Patriotism, involves the agreement with the actions of one's state (for example, Bush sends soldiers into the Iraq, and a person may be patriotic by agreeing with him on this matter). Thus, it is separate from Patriotism. A nations flags, anthems, and generally symbols of nation's identity are considered very important symbols of the national community under this ideology. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Benefits: For one thing, nationalism enhances teamwork and productivity in the workforce. For the own sake of their nation, and because of the emphasis of nationalism on collective identity, people will work together. Not only for their own personal benefit, but to enhance the nation as a whole. Under nationalism, people are encouraged to work hard together. Nationalism encourages the idea that workers have similar interests with the other workers in their company, and in a bigger picture, their country. Because of this, workers have a better sense of value, boosting their motivation. Therefore, nationalism results in improved productivity. Nationalism also unites people of all different classes, creating a rare harmony between them. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Criticisms: The negatives of Nationalism can not be ignored, but I believe that they are easily disassociated directly with nationalism. These include racism, and the thought of superiority over other nations. When talking about nationalism, these are often the most stressed problems. Racism is often expected to increase with nationalism, as nationalism promotes a certain group of people. However, there are different types of nationalism. There is ethnic nationalism, cultural nationalism, and there is civic nationalism. In my opinion, cultural nationalism has the least amount of racism. This is because it doesn't celebrate a nation's ethnicity; it celebrates it's culture. Anyone can embrace a nation's culture. Reiterating the superiority problem, nationalism can cause wars if it promotes imperialism. In WWI, nationalism is widely blamed as the cause, as Germany felt superior, and they felt the best. But this was only a contributing factor. In fact, the real cause was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This instigated a war between Austria and Serbia. The military alliances dragged all the other nations that were allied with either Austria or Serbia into the war. But it must be said that the assassins themselves were from the nationalist group Mlada Bosna. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Summary: Nationalism has a lot of merit, but is often discouraged because of some of the racial obstacles it has faced. I personally believe nationalism is healthy because it improves productivity and teamwork, and eases tensions between the working class, the middle class, and the wealthy. People should take care to note that Nationalism isn't fascism or intolerance, but a love of one's country. I do not like that people constantly associate the word with racism, but that is their opinion.