The Editor’s Monthly Memo: Does Nationalism Still Matter?

In a world seemingly hurtling away from the nation state as the prime medium through which world affairs filter, it is not pithy to ask: does nationalism still matter?
I was saddened this week to learn of the passing of one of the twentieth century’s great historians, Eric Hobsbawm. Though we are deprived of one of the great intellectual thinkers of the last century, Hobsbawm’s legacy will no doubt endure for generations to come. My own personal reading of Hobsbawm remains limited to Nations and Nationalism since 1780, but as with so many other great writers, his death serves as a morose call to action to expand my reading list. I won’t offer here an unworthy attempt to evaluate the man’s life or work, no matter how intriguingly ironic a historiographer’s blind devotion to a failed ideology may be—particularly when another recently fallen and equally missed titan has so adequately fulfilled that task.I will, however, seize the opportunity to reflect on a subject to which the recently departed devoted much of his intellectual power and energy—that is, nationalism. In a world seemingly hurtling away from the nation state as the prime medium through which world affairs filter, it is not pithy to ask: does nationalism still matter? A brief review of the nature of conflicts and threats we face and the forums we convene to address such issues reveals an expansionary de-emphasis of the nation as the primary actor in international affairs. This point is reinforced by nationalism’s notable absence from the curriculums of international relations graduate programs, at least in this writer’s personal experience.Despite this devaluation, nationalism appears to maintain relevancy through more modern expressions and utilization. Amidst his erudition, Hobsbawm’s insistence that though nationalism may be a top-down phenomenon, it must be understood and analyzed from the bottom, an observation which retains its weight in the modern context. The invocation of nationalism remains a tool for political mobilization, but rarely materializes in the organic fashion that Hobsbawm and his colleagues envisioned. Nationalism’s more modern form is a much more synthetic product fashioned as a hedge against destabilization by obscuring sources of perceived or potential weakness. In this vein, the global economic slowdown has reinforced nationalist tendencies everywhere in which autocratic regimes persist—and even a few in which it does not.Facing economic sluggishness for the first time in a decade and a less than seamless leadership transition, the Chinese government has dutifully stoked nationalist passions to distract its citizenry from the Party’s shortcomings. The target of nationalist sentiment has focused largely on competing claims to clusters of rock in the East and South China Seas. A recent IAR article examined the military dimensions of this issue and the potential for it to expand to a broader conflict. That ongoing investigation of the value of discovered natural resources remains indeterminate, and that all parties involved presumably lack the technical expertise to harness these resources suggests that the augmentation of tensions are largely political.The danger of inflaming nationalism is, of course, the degree to which it can be harnessed once unleashed. Worrying signs continue to surface that the periodic invigoration of nationalist sentiment in China is having a profound and radicalizing effect on younger generations. Alarming data streaming out of other countries prone to impetuous bouts of nationalism is also cause for anxiety. This week, an announcement emerged that Russia’s petrodollar reserves are likely to evaporate by 2015, when Russia will begin running federal deficits. Having campaigned on generous handouts, Putin now faces the stark reality of fiscal constraints and the uncertainty of oil prices sufficient enough to prop up his ambitious spending promises. Should he roll back the spending programs and campaign pledges, ratcheting up nationalist sentiment particularly against the West is a near certainty.The European Union also faces renewed instances of nationalism amidst the financial woes facing the continent. Rising tensions between those countries requiring bailouts and those more fiscally responsible have led to increased support for nationalist parties (namely in Finland, France, and Slovakia). The influence of these parties has contributed to paralysis in the euro zone and threatens the dissolution of the monetary union.The spate of nationalism globally suggests that it indeed continues to matter, not so much as an ideological force, but as a political tool intended to manipulate populations and obfuscate delegitimizing forces. The primary concern of nationalism’s continued relevancy is the danger that such forces become unwieldy and accelerate conflict. This calls for policymakers’ astute determination between those movements which are politically manufactured and those which threaten to seethe into conflict; it’s only a shame that we’ve lost one of history’s great analytical minds on such matters.

Photo courtesy of Ivo Janschia via Flickr.