Nationalism

1. Nationalism: A Recent, Accidental, and Transformative Force

Everything new in history is a result of an accident.

A historical accident. Nationalism, the defining force of our modern world, is not a natural human condition but a relatively recent historical accident. For millennia, societies existed without this concept, with only three—Chinese, Indian, and Jewish—maintaining cultural integrity over 2,500 years. The idea that "all men are created equal," revolutionary in 1776, would have seemed absurd to most people alive then, including ancient Greek philosophers and Romans who viewed foreigners with contempt.

Pre-national inequality. Before nationalism, societies were fundamentally inegalitarian, often structured as a "society of orders" where social strata were considered different species. In Western Christendom, for instance, society was divided into:

• Nobility (bellatores): 2-5% of the population, "blue-blooded," defenders.
• Clergy (oratores): Mediators with God, open to both noble and common, but celibate.
• Commoners (laboratores): The vast majority, "red-blooded," laborers, often called "rabble" or "litter" (natio in Latin).
  Social mobility was virtually nonexistent, and women were subordinate in all orders.

A revolution in consciousness. This deep-seated inequality, often justified as divine will, meant that the core values of equality and individual dignity, which we now consider natural, were utterly foreign. Nationalism fundamentally transformed this reality, making equality a core value and reshaping human experience by shifting focus from transcendental concerns to the dignity of simply being human in this secular world. This profound change in consciousness was the true revolution.

2. England's Unique Birth of Nationalism: Dignity, Mobility, and Equality

The presupposition of fundamental equality in the inclusive community—of shared identity, implied in the definition of the people as a nation—had several vital implications.

Wiping out the old order. Nationalism first emerged in 16th-century England, born from the ashes of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487). This protracted conflict decimated the English nobility, creating an unprecedented vacuum at the top of the social hierarchy. The new Tudor dynasty, needing to legitimize its aristocracy, recruited from below, elevating "red-blooded" commoners to positions previously reserved for the "blue-blooded."

Redefining "nation." To justify this massive social mobility, the new elite declared that the English "people" were a "nation." This was a radical semantic shift:

• Historically, "natio" (from Latin "litter") was a derogatory term for foreign communities.
• In medieval universities, "nations" were groups of foreign students.
• Later, "nation" referred to a decision-making elite, typically the nobility.
  By equating "people" with "nation," the English aristocracy forged one inclusive community where members were interchangeable and fundamentally equal, normalizing social mobility.

Dignity and self-determination. This new national consciousness brought profound changes:

• Individual freedom: One chose one's identity, becoming one's own maker.
• Human dignity: Simply being human conferred dignity and pride.
• Secularization: God became less central, and the living world gained importance.
• Popular sovereignty: The nation, as an elite, now held supreme authority, leading to democracy.
  This "liberal democracy" was simply called "nation" in 16th-century England, marking a complete replacement of old faith with a new, secular sacred.

3. English Nationalism Forged Modern Capitalism and Science

Among the by-products of this competition without competitors, this determined English national effort to win the admiration of the world, were two defining features of modernity: capitalism and science.

Competitive spirit. The dignity inherent in national membership made the English deeply invested in their nation's international prestige. As the first nation, England imagined itself surrounded by competitors (French, Italians, Dutch, Spanish) and felt compelled to prove its superiority. This touchiness, though empirically unjustified, fueled a relentless drive for respect, transforming England from a peripheral principality into a leading power within a century.

Capitalism's irrationality. This competitive nationalism spurred the development of modern capitalism. Unlike earlier subsistence economies, capitalism is oriented towards continuous growth, not just comfort. Max Weber attributed this "irrational" drive to Calvinist predestination, but the Dutch Republic, also Calvinist, eventually stopped accumulating wealth. English nationalism, however, provided the rationale:

• National dignity: Economic activity became a means to enhance national prestige.
• Foreign trade: English merchants, like the Merchants Adventurers, actively sought state support to displace foreign competitors (e.g., the German Hanseatic League).
• State financing: Profits were channeled into state needs, demonstrating national financial independence.
  This relentless pursuit of relative advantage, where "the price at which this relative advantage came mattered little," created the growth-oriented modern economy.

Science as a national pursuit. The same drive for national dignity fostered modern science. In the early 16th century, England was culturally backward. Unwilling to compete in classical learning, the English embraced science as a new, modern field where they could excel.

• Moderns over ancients: They identified with "moderns," rejecting the authority of "ruinous Athens or decayed Rome."
• Social approbation: Science became a magnet for talent, a direct path to status, celebrated by the public and royalty.
• Royal Society: The world's first scientific institution, the Royal Society of London (1660), promoted science and its contributors, making England a scientific leader.
  Science, initially a sign of English cultural specificity, became proof of their superiority, driving its rapid and sustained development globally as other nations sought to emulate this success.

4. France's Collectivistic Nationalism: Ressentiment and the Left/Right Divide

The "anguish of the mind" of the French elite was the major factor in the development of the French national consciousness and the emergence of the French nation.

Anguish of the French elite. For two centuries, England was the sole nation. France, observing England's meteoric rise, began to imitate its economic and scientific institutions. However, French nationalism truly emerged in the 18th century from the "anguish of the mind" of its impoverished and politically marginalized nobility. Stripped of real power by the absolute monarchy, yet clinging to formal dignity, they sought a new identity.

Nation as a collective person. The French elite adopted the English idea of the nation to restore their dignity, redefining "people" as a positive, sovereign entity. However, unlike England's individualistic nationalism, France's version became collectivistic:

• Superhuman entity: The "nation" became an abstract, godlike, collective individual with its own will and interests.
• Elite interpretation: A special elite was needed to divine this "general will," creating a new aristocracy of intelligence.
• Liberty of the nation: Individual liberty was derived from the nation's liberty, not the other way around.
  This transformation was partly due to France wanting to be a nation before it truly was one, allowing the concept to be shaped by abstract ideals rather than existing social realities.

Ressentiment and the Revolution. French nationalism was deeply influenced by ressentiment—a resentment born of envy and perceived inferiority, particularly towards England. While early philosophes like Voltaire admired England, the difficulty of matching its success led to Anglophobia.

• Transvaluation of values: French liberals, while adopting English values like liberty and equality, reinterpreted them. Liberty became national sovereignty, equality became uniformity, and fraternity emphasized collective unity over individual rights.
• Revolutionary politics: The French Revolution (1789) was the first collective expression of this national consciousness, attacking the old regime and inaugurating the age of democracy on the continent.
• Left and Right: The seating arrangements in the National Assembly created the "left" (radical nationalists, populists) and "right" (moderate nationalists), establishing the political spectrum that still frames Western thought, conceptually divorcing these terms from their nationalist origins.

5. America's Pure Individualism vs. Russia's Ressentiment-Driven Ethnicity

The individualistic/civic type of nationalism consistently affirmed the human individual as an autonomous agent, and the collectivistic/civic one denied the individual autonomy in its collectivism but affirmed it in its civic character, the collectivistic/ethnic nationalism consistently denied the individual right to self-government and freedom in shaping one’s destiny.

America: An ideal nation. The United States is one of the oldest nations, unique in having no pre-national history. Its nationalism is a direct continuation of English individualistic/civic nationalism, brought by settlers who already possessed this consciousness.

• Universalized English values: The American War of Independence was not a revolution against the social order but a demand for "rights of Englishmen," universalized to "rights of men."
• Plural "people": The U.S. Constitution's "We the People" in the plural reflects a nation as an association of sovereign individuals, not a unitary entity.
• Protest and exit: American history is marked by protests stemming from the tension between national ideals of liberty/equality and reality, with secession (until the Civil War) and protest as responses.
  This pure form of nationalism, emphasizing individual dignity and self-government, makes America an "ideal nation" in an analytical sense.

Russia: Nationalism by decree. Russian nationalism was conceived in 1698 by Peter the Great, who, after visiting Western Europe, sought to elevate Russia's prestige. He imposed national ideas on his nobility, who, like the French elite, suffered from status inconsistency under autocracy.

• Instrumental adoption: Peter wanted better subjects; Catherine the Great (1762-1796) genuinely fostered national consciousness, creating an intelligentsia.
• Ressentiment as core: Russian nationalism became deeply shaped by ressentiment towards the West. Russians felt fundamentally equal to the West but inferior in reality, leading to envy and a desire for Western recognition.
• Transvaluation of values: To cope with inferiority, Russian nationalists rejected Western "reason" and "civilization" as corrupting, instead exalting the "enigmatic Russian soul" derived from "blood and soil." This led to the collectivistic/ethnic type of nationalism.

Three types of nationalism: By the end of the 18th century, the world had four nations embodying three types:

• Individualistic/Civic (England, USA): Nation as a voluntary association of rational, self-governing individuals, emphasizing individual liberty and equality.
• Collectivistic/Civic (France): Nation as a collective individual with its own will, imposing it on members, but membership is voluntary (civic).
• Collectivistic/Ethnic (Russia): Nation as a collective individual, biologically constituted by "blood" or "race," where membership is involuntary and individual autonomy is denied.

6. German Romanticism: The Cradle of Totalitarianism and Racism

In doing so, they bequeathed to the world two of the most dangerous expressions of the national—and therefore democratic, modern—worldview: totalitarianism (an implication of collectivistic nationalism) and racism (an implication of ethnic nationalism).

Middle-class origins. Unlike other nationalisms, German nationalism was primarily a creation of middle-class intellectuals (Bildungsbürger) who experienced anomie due to limited social mobility and unfulfilled aspirations in a static society. Their resentment against the Enlightenment, which promised intellectual elevation but delivered unemployment, fueled Romanticism.

Romanticism's anti-Western stance. Romanticism, a worldview of ressentiment, rejected the Enlightenment's emphasis on individual reason and autonomy, viewing France and England as antimodels.

• Totality over individual: Romantics believed true individuality lay in communities, not isolated individuals. They equated "true individuality" with the "totality of human nature," recovered by losing oneself in the collective.
• Language and race: They insisted that communities of language were true moral individuals, determined by "blood ties" or "race." This laid the groundwork for ethnic nationalism.
• Totalitarian vision: Romantics envisioned a "totalitarian society" where the state (equated with society and human nature) encompassed all aspects of life, leaving no private sphere. Adam Heinrich Müller and G.W.F. Hegel articulated this as an "ethical totality" where individual interests merged with the collective.

Racism and anti-Semitism. German Romanticism, when nationalized, made racism and totalitarianism political forces.

• Science of race: Anthropology emerged in Germany, defining race in biological terms.
• Anti-Semitism: Jews were defined as a separate race, personifying Western liberalism, individualism, and capitalism, becoming the paramount enemy of German socialism. The term "Antisemitismus" was coined to stress this racial (not religious) hatred.
• Marx's dilemma: Karl Marx, a baptized Jew, internalized German nationalism's anti-Western and anti-Semitic paradox. His theory of history, while replacing nations with classes, retained the Manichaean vision and anti-Western sentiment, effectively solving his "Jewish problem" by making the West (capitalism) the enemy.

7. All Modern Ideologies (Left and Right) Are Forms of Nationalism

As words, socialism and communism—no less than populism, and just like liberalism—are synonyms of nationalism, and, as phenomena (ideologies, political and economic regimes), they are implications and products of nationalism.

Democracy's varied forms. Nationalism inherently implies democracy, based on popular sovereignty and fundamental equality. However, different types of nationalism lead to different democracies:

• Liberal democracies: (Individualistic nationalism) Safeguard individual rights, majoritarian rule.
• Authoritarian democracies: (Collectivistic nationalism) Led by an elite capable of divining the "national will," with acclamation replacing election.
  Collectivistic/ethnic nationalisms, in particular, are consistently authoritarian and resistant to change, often labeling liberal democracies as "false."

Socialism and communism as nationalism. In collectivistic/ethnic nationalisms, "democracy" acquired an ambivalent meaning, leading to "true" (authoritarian) and "false" (liberal) forms. Authoritarian democracies were often called "socialist" or "communist," terms that originally meant collectivistic nationalism.

• Cold War context: The Cold War, seen as a clash between liberalism and communism, was fundamentally a nationalist conflict between two powerful nations (US and USSR) with opposed national interests but shared underlying nationalist worldviews.
• German influence: German nationalism, through its abstract thought, informed ideologies like socialism, communism, and fascism, obscuring their connection to nationalism while spreading its collectivistic and ethnic forms globally.

Fascism and Nazism. The 20th century saw the rise of totalitarianisms, often framed as "left" or "right" but all rooted in nationalism.

• National Socialism (Nazism): A direct descendant of German romantic nationalism, it targeted capitalism and Bolshevism as "Jewish inventions," making anti-Semitism its core. It was collectivistic/ethnic and racist.
• Fascism (Italy, Spain): Also collectivistic and totalitarian, but civic, not ethnic/racist. Benito Mussolini, a former socialist, admired Lenin. Fascism was an attempt to impose state nationalism from above in nations with weak national unity.
  The "left" and "right" labels, inherited from the French Revolution, often obscured the underlying nationalist nature of these movements, leading to confusion, as seen in the Spanish Civil War where "left" fought "left" and "fascists" could be "anti-Nazi."

8. Globalization of Nationalism: Asia's Rise Challenges Western Hegemony

The Chinese colossus (with India, traditionally passive, close on its heels) has announced its candidacy for global hegemony.

Beyond monotheistic civilization. Until the mid-20th century, nationalism was largely confined to monotheistic civilization, with Japan as the sole exception. This changed dramatically with its globalization into the Chinese and Indian civilizations, which together comprise half of humanity. Unlike monotheistic cultures, these civilizations do not privilege the "logic of no contradiction," allowing for qualitative rather than purely quantitative comparisons, and fostering different psychological dynamics.

Japan's forced adoption. Japan's nationalism was an "unwanted export," introduced at gunpoint by Commodore Perry in 1853. Japan, initially contemptuous of Western "barbarians," adopted nationalism not out of envy but out of necessity to defend its dignity and way of life.

• "Western knowledge, Eastern values": Japanese nationalism integrated new consciousness with existing ones, rather than replacing them.
• Rapid ascent: Within 15 years, Japan understood nationalism, creating new vocabulary (e.g., kokumin for "people of the country," kyōsō for "running and fighting"). Within a generation, it became a major economic and military power.
• Challenging the West: Japan's defeat of China (1895) and Russia (1904) shattered Western military supremacy and ignited nationalism across Asia, demonstrating that Western power was not invincible.

China's awakening. Chinese national consciousness was triggered by its defeat by Japan in 1895. Chinese elites, initially not prone to ressentiment, studied Japan to understand its strength and imported its nationalist consciousness.

• Guomindang and Communism: Both the Nationalist Movement (Guomindang) and the Communist movement (led by Mao Zedong) were essentially nationalist, vying to lead China's project for sovereignty and dignity.
• Mass engagement: For most of the 20th century, Chinese nationalism remained an elite phenomenon. However, Deng Xiaoping's turn to capitalism after Mao's death elevated economic classes, inviting hundreds of millions to participate in the national project, leading to China's rapid economic rise and global assertion.

Changing global values. The rise of China and India signals the end of Western global hegemony and a radical shift in world values. Unlike Western nationalism, where individual dignity depends on both international prestige and internal egalitarianism, in Japan and China, international prestige is paramount. They tolerate higher degrees of internal inequality, which is not equated with injustice. This fundamental difference in the nature of nationalism will profoundly impact international politics and the destiny of the world.

9. Nationalism's Enduring Power: Personal Dignity and Collective Identity

The appeal of national consciousness lies in the dignity with which it endows the personal identity of every one of its carriers.

A pervasive influence. Nationalism remains the defining factor of our world, shaping our existential experience, politics, economies, social stratification, and cultural creativity. Its influence is so pervasive that it is often poorly understood, leading many social theorists to mistakenly predict its imminent demise.

Misguided predictions. For nearly two centuries, nationalism's disappearance has been continuously predicted, often coinciding with its resurgence or spread to new regions. These predictions often stem from:

• Defining it as "animality": Believing it will fade as people become more sophisticated.
• Evolutionary trend: Assuming an irreversible trend towards global human community.
• Methodological nationalism: Equating nations with societies, leading to calls for "transnational" sociology.
  However, these predictions fail to grasp nationalism's core: its psychological appeal.

Dignity as the driving force. The enduring power of national consciousness lies in its ability to endow the personal identity of its carriers with dignity. The choice of which community to define as one's "nation" depends on its "dignity capital"—how much it can contribute to one's personal dignity.

• European Union example: The EU's weakness and Brexit illustrate this. A "European identity" failed to add dignity to ordinary citizens of established nations like Britain or France, whose national identities already provided ample dignity.
• Resurgence: This explains the resurgence of nationalism in leading European nations and elsewhere; people gravitate towards identities that confer the most personal dignity.

An unlikely end. With billions of new initiates in Asia, nationalism is far from receding. While everything has an end, nationalism's future demise is not foreseeable at present, and when it does end, it will likely be for reasons entirely different from those currently predicted. For now, it remains the fundamental lens through which humanity experiences and shapes its reality.

Last updated: March 13, 2026