The British National Party

Nationalism can be traced to the nineteenth century, European peoples came to identify strongly with communities they called nations. Members of a nation considered themselves a distinctive people that spoke a common language, observed common customs, inherited common cultural conditions, held common values, and shared common

Nationalism has been extremely important and influential in shaping the modern world we see today, causing revolutions, rebellions and the constant reshaping of world maps continuing even today. Its appeal is something that I don’t believe will diminish in the future. Many theologians and political commentators alike agree that Nationalism has perhaps been one of the most prominent political ideologies of the modern world “No single political doctrine has played a more prominent role in shaping the face of the modern world than nationalism” 1, and doesn’t look like ceasing to be as influential anytime

Nationalism was formed with the idea that a nation is made up of people who are joined together by common language, customs, cultures and history. It held the belief that one should be loyal to the people of their nation, not a king or empire. Nationalists believed that people of a single nationality should unite under a single government. The concept of Nationalism emerged in the French Revolution and was spread to the rest of Europe by Napoleon’s conquests.

The National Republicans were a political party created after the Election of 1824. Although John Quincy Adams lost to Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1828 the party opposed to Jackson was the National Republican Party, or Anti-Jacksonians created and run by Henry Clay. It had a nationalistic outlook, and wanted to use national resources to build a strong economy. Its platform was a system of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff, which would promote faster economic development. The National Republicans were significant in that they were the opposition party to the Democrats and Andrew Jackson, but also, with their strong economical policies and ideas, fostered the creation of the Market Economy.

The New Right has significantly revised the relationship between conservatism and tradition, however. The New Right attempts to fuse economic libertarianism with state and social authoritarianism. As such, it is a blend of radical, reactionary and traditional features. Its radicalism is evident in its robust efforts to dismantle or ‘roll back’ interventionist government and liberal social values. This radicalism is clearest in relation to the liberal New Right, which draws on rational theories and abstract principles, and so dismisses tradition. New Right radicalism is nevertheless reactionary in that both the liberal and conservative New Right hark back to a 19th century ‘golden age’ of supposed economic prosperity and moral fortitude. However, the conservative New Right also makes an appeal to tradition, particularly through its emphasis on so-called ‘traditional values’.

Hobsbawm emphasizes that proto nationalism was the “mobilizing (of) certain variants of feelings of collective belonging which already existed and which could operate, as it were, potentially on the macro-political scale which could fit in with modern states and nations.” (Hobsbawm, 52) The consciousness, therefore, of belonging to a nation requires “the citizens of a country (to become) a sort of community, though an imagined one, and its members therefore found themselves seeking for and consequently finding, things in common, places, practices, personages, memories, signs and symbols.” (Hobsbawm, 90) This foundational development is essentially one of patriotism, in which the individual evokes a feeling of loyalty and pride in their nation through symbols, language and ethnicity. While these feelings of pro-nationalism may occur, if an individual is, for instance, to have thoughts of desire to burn the national flag or act in an anti-nationalist way, then they will have feelings of guilt. Freud explains that the “origins of the sense of guilt (are): one arising from fear of an authority, and the other, later on, arising from fear of the super-ego.” (Freud, 119) The state, therefore, is the super-ego that oppresses the Id of the individual who has these perverted thoughts. One can additionally apply this to the original ways in which

Nationalism was coined back in the 1770’s it has a major role in the shaping many nations throughout the world. Nationalism has many positive and negative aspects to it. Nationalism has the strength to unify people despite their classes. It also has the ability to united people to lead movements against oppressive governments. There is a downside Nationalism can as method to evoke fear. The biggest negative is that most nationalism movement’s inevitably led to some form of conflict. Nationalism is a dangerous movement that can lead to oppression of opposition groups and lead to conflicts.

Nationalism has played a crucial role in world history over the past centuries. It continues to do so today. For many, nationalism is indelibly associated with some of the worst aspects of modern history, such as the destructive confidence of the Napoleon’s army and the murderous pride of Nazi Germany. Large numbers of people, descent in their hearts, have carried out unbelievable atrocities for no better reason than their nation required them to. Authoritarian and totalitarian regime have crushed dissent, eliminated opposition, and trampled on civil liberties in the name of the nation.

Today, the scourge of nationalism continues to infect humanity. Without doubt, in some circles, nationalism is hotly debated. For most people, however, the concept of nationalism is rarely questioned. In fact, it 's a foregone conclusion that people should love the nation in which they reside. Some people even take great pride in the fact that they were arbitrarily born in a specific geographical location. Unfortunately, like religion or capitalism, nationalism is alive and well in the 21st century.

Nationalism can be described as a mix, multidimensional morally developed or created concept involving a shared common identification with one's Nation. It is more on politically motivated towards working and maintaining self-governance, or full sovereignty, working towards to a specific land or a territory of historical significance to the group such as land and its belongings. In simple Nationalism is a nation command and lead itself, free from foreign influence, it is the concept of self-rule. Nationalism is further formed towards maintaining and developing a Sovereignty based on shared features such as religion, language, race, culture, or either political goals or a belief in a customary ancestry. So its pride towards nation's achievements, and the concept in world history has shown positive and negative impact, moreover in a political dimension it leads either unification or disintegration.

Nationalism is a widely debated ideology that differs based on the historian’s definition. For example, Benedict Anderson attempts to define nationalism as "an imagined political community [that is] imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign"(Anderson, pg 6). Anderson also believes the main causes of nationalism can be

One of the oldest and most recognized forms of group activity is participation in collective state identity. Pride in one’s nation is a phenomenon that can transcend race, gender, class, sexual orientation, physical proximity and many other social groupings. This topic development will explore the sociological concept of nationalism and patriotism in relation to group identity, beliefs and subsequent actions performed by members of specified nationality groups.

While the authors mentioned above have attempted to define nations and nationalism in general terms, the latter author has applied these theories to Scotland. Tom Nairn argues that in Scotland - where the political nationalism is impotent - a form of ‘pseudo-nationalism’ has been produced. Nairn believes that stereotypical manifestations, like Tartan and Kailyard, became a ‘sub-cultural substitute’ for Scottish nationalism. He argues that since the intelligentsia was deprived of a 19th-century cultural ‘nationalization,' Scotland turned towards Tartanry to construct a false ‘pseudo-nationalism’ (Nairn, 156 ).

However, nationalism does not have one single definition, its meaning has evolved as society changes and modernises. Nationalism can “...refer to any behaviour designed to restore, maintain, or advance public images of that national community” (Gries, 2005:9). By the mid-1960s there were two main proposals to understanding nationalism. “In the first, nationalism was an aspect of national history, a sentiment associated with the nation...In the second approach, nationalism was a modern, irrational doctrine which could acquire sufficient power...to generate nationalists sentiments and even nation states” (Gellner, 2008:xx). Nationalism is defined differently by different schools of thought and theorists.

Nationalism is the idea that a people who have much in common, such as language, culture and geographic proximity ought to organize in such a way that it creates a stable and enduring state. Nationalism is tied to patriotism, and it is the driving force behind the identity of a culture. Nationalism had many effects in Europe from 1815, The Congress of Vienna and beyond. In the following essay I will describe many of the consequences of nationalism on European identity, as well as some of the conflicts that it created.