The Political Psychology of Nationalism

Nationalism as an important driving force in political behavior It is not universal and not everyone is a nationalist but it lies dormant until a threat or opportunity to the nation is perceived by the populace Nationalism emerged following the French Revolution Nationalism has been considered one of the most dangerous sources of political behavior in 20 th century German nationalism is blamed for WWII, played major role in causing that conflict

Emerson’s (1960) definition of nationalism: “The nation is a community of people who feel they belong together in the double sense that they share deeply significant elements of common heritage and that they have a common destiny for the future” Nationalist give primary royalty to their perceived nation, which can be considered a political identity in-group

Nation-state: a state in which the average citizen has a primary identity with the national community, believes that community should be an independent state, and grants that community primary loyalty (territorial boundaries of a state is called nation-state) Nationalists are committed to the unity, independence, dignity, and well-being of national community and the nation state

Nationalism is similar to social identity Nationalist are group members who are motivated to have strong, positive attachment to their nation

Pattern of behaviors of nationalist 1- nationalists tend to be more sensitive than non-nationalists to threat to the nation-state, and the image through which they view threatener is extreme 2- nationalists, particularly nationalistic leaders, are very sensitive to opportunities to advance their country’s influence and more likely than non-nationalists to seriously consider the option to expand state influence at the expense of others 3- greater tendency among public of nation-state to be deeply concerned with the objective of gathering together communities existing outside the borders of the state whom they regard as a part of their national community. Irredentism: desire to join together all part of a national community within a single territorial state (German conquest of Poland and Czechoslovakia during WWII where millions of ethnic Germans lived). Diaspora: members of the nation who live outside the territory of the country

4- nationalists are more concerned with their country’s prestige and dignity than are non-nationalists 5- public of a nation-state will be susceptible to grandeur interests and will therefore want to see national prestige and status enhanced and recognized globally 6- leaders of nation states, are able to make effective appeals to the citizens to make great sacrifices to enhance the power of the state 7- public is more willing to serve in the military and to have a more intense commitment to the defense of the state 8- citizens of nation-state more likely to grant leaders considerable freedom to take risks in defending country’s interests

Governance in nation-state Governments have certain tools available to them to keep their populations stable and supportive, need to satisfy needs of population through functioning economy and political system, coercive instruments (police and the military which can be used to keep order, prevent instability and to comply government’s decisions) However, the govt. and leaders of nation state have an added instrument to mobilize the population to make great sacrifice for the country when necessary. They use nationalistic symbols to arouse passionate feelings of devotion to nation such as the flag, historic events (success in great battles) or idea of motherland.

Nationalism in Non-nation State Multinational states, in which group of people, who think of themselves as separate nations and who actually have the capacity to establish viable independent states, live together in single country. They do not see the population of the country as their primary identity group

Core community non-nation state: countries with a dominant ethnic or sectarian community who believes that they are the primary nation embodies in the country and who politically dominant and controls the political system. Such as Russia, there are many other ethnic groups living in Russia, who speak Russian and are part of the country’s political system, who have different ethnic identity The core community advocates the integration and assimilation of the other groups, encouraging the minorities to speak the dominant group’s language, abandon their customs, identify the country as a whole

Social mobility is another strategy to cope with the threatened and or negative social identity However, assimilation of social mobility is not always welcome if assimilation requires the complete abandonment of group identity, and if the existence of group is threatened, political conflict may occur such as Albanian revolts in Kosovo and Chechnyan revolt in Russia (small communities may identify a chance to break free and go for independence

Causes of Nationalistic Behavior Social identity theory as an explanation for the power of nationalism Social identity theory: people need to belong groups, and ideally, they see their groups (in-groups) as better than other groups (out-groups) Nations are groups, for nationalists, are deeply important in-group Conflict is a result of engaging in a social comparison, negative comparison when they engage in competition Nationalists are highly cohesive and very willing to make sacrifice for the nation, and also sensitive to things such as insults, frustrations, and aggressive behaviors of out- groups

Nationalism involves very strong positive emotions (pride in your country, joy and happiness when your country do well things like economic development and growth or in athletic competitions, are associated with politics) associated with the nation and negative emotions associated with the out-groups Refusal to look at the country’s role in international difficulties also encourages search for scapegoat upon whom to blame for the poor circumstances, and produces behavior ranging from violations of civil and human rights to genocide