I believe one of the biggest reasons as to why international conflict is a recurring element in the world of today is due to the existence of uncountable national identities. National identities are comprised of a culture, a history, a language, religion etc. Today the world is not in a state of nature. People depend on one another for their survival. Countries depend on each other for trade, for economic survival and what not. The world is undoubtedly globalized and in a globalized world, interaction and communication is necessary and essential. This i believe provides a reason for an identity to show its superiority.
Liberal nationalism argues for self determination of a nation and a right for other nations to do so aswell but that i believe is not possible because of the existence of realism. I believe it is rightly referred to as realism as the world itself suggest that suggests a notion of “reality” to it. That in “reality” a nation will always choose itself over another and its interests will only show to be altruistic if implicitly there is much to gain. China’s 40+bn deal with Pakistan does seem to give us the better end of the stick but what do we know about Chinese self interests. You invest for a return and you do not invest altruistically.
2 comments:
Nationalism in itself isnt the problem. Nationalism can also be good. To identify as a nation is not what causes this. It is when that identity with a nation implies less of an identification with other nations and considers them to be less important than the people of the in-group is when causes this. Ideal nationalism should create a greater sense of belonging with the ingroup without decreasing the sense of belonging of that people with the outgroup. Such nationalistic notions will help avoid this problem.
65.
I agree with your point that the existence of nation-states ensure that there will be conflicts. These states practice nationalism which is exclusionary by nature; hence these nations work for themselves sometimes even at the cost of other nations.
Contrary to the idea presented by sociologist Durkheim, with increased interdependence and division of labour, we have not reached organic solidarity. On the contrary, the existence of groups (nation-states) within the globalised community, we have taken the innately selfish principle of man and projected it onto the international arena.
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