Nationalism and Military Power

Nationalism, Mass Armies, and Military Power

• Nationalism has historically been key in mobilizing state power through military means.
• Nationalism aligns individual interests with state objectives, especially in military contexts.
• Cultural and ideological unity, fostered by nationalism, is vital for mass army success.
• States use education and propaganda to boost military effectiveness via nationalism.
• States emulate successful strategies, like mass mobilization armies, in the international arena.
• The French Revolution and Napoleon's nationalistic military innovations set a European standard.
• Literacy is essential for military efficiency because it enables communication, training, and political motivation.
• Mandatory education promotes literacy and instills nationalist ideology, boosting soldier loyalty.
• From the 18th century to WWI, France and Prussia/Germany show how nationalism was adopted to strengthen military power.
• France's revolutionary nationalism inspired a mass army, which Prussia/Germany later copied through reforms.
• Mass armies evolved from small, professional forces to large, ideologically driven ones.
• Conscription and decentralized battlefield tactics arose alongside nationalism.
• Structural realism says that international pressures drive states to adopt nationalist and military practices.
• Mass armies and nationalism can democratize societies by spreading military skills and literacy, possibly shifting internal power dynamics.
• States often include nationalist curricula in schools for mass mobilization warfare preparedness.
• Nationalism is deeply linked to state security and military capabilities, remaining crucial as long as mass mobilization warfare exists.

Nationalism: What We Know and What We Still Need to Know

• This article reviews political science research on nationalism, its origins, evolution, and relevance.
• The article identifies gaps in scholarship and promotes interdisciplinary, cross-regional research.
• Nationalism has seen a resurgence, driven by populist leaders like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, and Viktor Orbán.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted national decision-making, reinforcing nationalist sentiments.
• Nations are historically contingent and socially constructed.
• Modernist theories, like those of Anderson and Gellner, see industrialization, urbanization, and mass education as key to nationalism.
• Nationalism both supports democracy and solidarity, and fuels exclusion, marginalization, and conflict.
• The distinction between inclusive civic and exclusive ethnic nationalism is crucial.
• Macro-historical studies focus on the rise and political shifts of nation-states from empires.
• Behavioral research uses surveys and experiments to study individual connections to nations.
• Everyday nationalism studies how national identity is reproduced in daily practices.
• Modernism, Perennialism, and Ethnosymbolism debate nations being modern versus rooted in ancient identities.
• The modernist view is dominant but informed by pre-modern cultural insights.
• Nationalism in Asia and Africa arose as a response to colonial rule.
• Indigenous elites used it to validate political goals and build postcolonial states.
• National identity impacts democracy, public goods, and inter-ethnic trust.
• Exclusionary nationalism, like Hindu nationalism or white nationalism, can undermine positive outcomes.
• More research is needed on nationalism outside Europe and its effects on global issues like climate change and pandemics.
• Cross-disciplinary and comparative approaches are necessary.
• Nationalism is both a unifying and divisive force, requiring understanding of its historical and contemporary contexts.

Additional Key Points About Nationalism

• Nationalism says that the political and national unit should align.
• Loyalty to a nation is a key part of an individual's political identity.
• Nations are tied to specific territories and are "imagined political communities."
• Nationalism is a potent force.
• Civic nationalism involves commitment to a state, its values, and procedures, with nationality based on membership.
• Ethnic nationalism involves commitment to an ethnic group and its political and economic affairs, where the nation precedes the state.
• For individuals, nationalism means aligning self-interest with a group, defining group interests by shared culture and history and believing in a "common destiny".
• It includes pride in one's nation and viewing it as superior, with "chauvinist myth-making" that glorifies the nation and maligns others.
• Nationalists believe their group needs its own state to survive.
• National self-determination is the right of distinct national groups to become sovereign states.
• Secession is leaving a state to form a new one on specific territory.
• Irredentism is leaving a state to join another, bringing territory along.
• Primordialists see national identities as natural, socio-biological phenomena, a view that is not widely accepted today, but their ideas are still present.
• Perennialists see national identities as built on pre-existing ethnic and cultural elements.
• Modernists see nationalism as a product of modernization.
• Today, nationalism is seen as a modern phenomenon.
• National identities are socially constructed and historically contingent.
• Mistakenly, people often see national identities as natural and unchanging, but they are social conventions.
• People often act as if national identities are objectively real.
• Nationalism arose from the shift from agrarian to industrial society, needing cultural unity for labor and communication, achieved through mass education and literacy.
• Nationalism resulted from the interaction of capitalism and print technology, creating language-based "imagined communities".
• Nationalism is strategically promoted by states through mass education, literacy, and propaganda to improve military capabilities for mass mobilization warfare.
• Nationalism and modernization developed together in the international system.
• Nationalist sentiment redefined the "state", making the nation-state central to the international system.
• From the mid-1600s, a "Westphalian system" emerged in Europe, recognizing sovereignty and non-intervention.
• At the time, states varied, including empires and city-states, but there were no nation-states.
• The rise of nationalism changed how people identified themselves, authority, and with whom they identified.
• Beginning with anti-colonial resistance (~1760-1830), the French Revolution (1789), and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), a new international order emerged.
• Through conflict and imitation, the global map was reorganized along nation-state lines, with other state types declining.
• This included one nation-state forming from several separate states like Italy and Germany, and many nation-states forming from one state, such as the fragmenting Austro-Hungarian empire.
• Nationalist issues in European empires were key; with rare exceptions, metropoles opposed national self-determination in their colonies.
• Decolonization accelerated after WWII.
• Over 100 new nation-states were created from 1945-1970, starting in Asia, then the Middle East, and finally sub-Saharan Africa.
• The Soviet Union's collapse also led to new nationalist movements and nation-states in Europe.
• Some new nations emerged peacefully, like the Czech Republic and Slovakia from Czechoslovakia.
• Some emerged through violent confrontations, like former Yugoslavia, often involving ethnic cleansing and war crimes.
• There is evidence linking the construction of group identities to violence.
• Case studies suggest elites can provoke ethno-nationalist violence by exploiting ethnic/nationalist sentiments for political gain.
• This violence tends to harden group identities and make them more antagonistic.
• Most nation-states emerge when old regimes weaken, often from unrelated wars, especially after empires collapse.
• The spread of the nation-state can be visualized as a series of "waves".
• Recently, a resurgence of nationalism defending the nation-state has been seen in Europe, especially against supra-national politics and globalization.
• Examples are Brexit, the Kurdish struggle for a nation-state across multiple regions, and challenges to the nation-state concept from groups like ISIS.
• Globalization and cross-border relations have led some to question the importance of national identities and nation-states.
• This includes economic, political, and social dimensions.
• Despite this, the continued legal, cultural, and economic significance of nationalism, along with its resurgence, suggests the nation-state is not dying.
• Nationalism means that membership in a particular group should be the focus of an individual's political identity and loyalty, and that the nation requires its own state to survive and thrive.
• Nationalism’s rapid emergence, role in nation-state formation, and violent conflicts have profoundly altered international politics.
• The nation-state model remains the fundamental organizing principle of the international system, despite recent challenges.