History of Nationalism Lecture Notes

Introduction

Brief survey of nationalism as a defining concept in politics
Impact on the state through historical episodes: French Revolution, World War I, and World War II

Creation of national sovereignty
- Nation as the source of sovereignty for the state
- Fusion of the nation and popular sovereignty
Introduction of mass conscription
- Citizens conscripted to defend the nation
Reaction from rival nations
- Opposition from British, Spanish, Germans
- Napoleon’s attempts to spread democracy faced resistance
Nation as a part of state structure
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
- Link between the nation, people, and state sovereignty

Collapse of major empires, rise of new states
- Austro-Hungarian and German Empires collapse
- Emergence of new states (e.g., Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Turkey)
Soviet Union emerges
- Nationalistic despite Marxist ideology
- Russification policies under Stalin
Woodrow Wilson’s National Self-Determination
- Encourages nationalist movements for peace and freedom
- Concept of self-governance by like-minded people

Issues of national identity
- Germany’s exclusion of certain groups (Jews, LGBTQ+, etc.)
- Ethnic cleansing and genocide as tools for national consolidation
Post-War Ethnic Cleansing
- Former Yugoslavia and other examples
- Idea of a homogenous national population within borders
Decolonization and European Integration
- Weakened European states lead to decolonization in Asia, Africa, Latin America
- Rise of European national identity
- Challenges of creating a unified European identity

Ties between nationalism and justice
- Questions of who belongs to the nation
- Distribution of rights and resources within the nation