International Relations Introduction to International Relations Nationalism, Civilization, and Conflicts Jaechun Kim

Nationalism The difference between “state” and “nation” revisited.. What is nationalism? Definition? System of belief or ideology in which the welfare of the nation is considered paramount. Collective state of mind in which people believe their primary duty is to the nation…

Implications of Nationalism for IR: Upsides and Downsides Upside: Provides the cohesiveness necessary for the modern nation state… bonds that hold modern nation states… Downside: National self-interest often excludes the rights of other nations… can be source of international conflicts... Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon  French Revolution Nationalism became a factor in iR in late 19th century

French revolution and nationalism French Revolution and “popular sovereignty” tapped full blown nationalism in Europe… Louis the 14th – I am the state! (l’etat, c’est moi!) No, we people are the state…! (Popular Sovereignty) Owner of the nation  Love for the nation! In sum, nationalistic sentiment was unleashed by French Revolution… After the F R, fervent nationalism started to spread across the Europe… competing national claims contributed to the outbreak of both World Wars… 

Nationalism as a “movement”… National self-determination became a movement after WWI… W. Wilson also justified national self-determination in 14 points… Nationalism and IR Seeds for both interstate and intrastate conflicts… Interstate wars because of competing national claims… Intrastate wars because of “secessionist” movement… e.g. Balkan No finality in the definition and formation of nations!

Culture and Civilization as a Moving Force in International Relations What is culture? Definition of culture? The integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct which delimit the range of accepted behaviors in any given society Culture distinguishes societies from one another…

Culture and Nation: How are they different? Which is a bigger concept? Culture is not an easy concept to “operationalize” in research difficult to use it as an analytic tool multifaceted concept including wide range of phenomena; amorphous concept… Isolating “culture” is difficult!

Definition of civilization Civilization - culture writ large The highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity that people have The broadest construction of cultural identity

Eight distinct(?) civilizations (S. Huntington) Western, Sinic, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American, Buddhist, and African Predominance of Western culture in modern era… The significance of culture and civilization in the post-Cold War era (S. Huntington) The End of History – Francis Fukuyama The combination of liberal democracy and market-based capitalist economy – Liberalism – had drawn a finishing line in the history of political and social development… Liberalism is the end product of history… no other alternative!  

Clash of Civilization – S P Huntington Ideological struggle may have been over, but civilizational struggle will be on the rise Cultural differences had been suppressed during the Cold War… Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72 No 3. 1993, P 186-194.

Huntington in Detail… Clash of civilization is a part of historic development Conflict has been the essence of historical development… conflict between feudal lords (before Westphalian system)  conflict between the monarchs (early period of Westphalian system)  conflict between the nations (WWI and WWII)  ideological clash (Cold War)  clash of civilization

“the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great division among humankind and dominating source of conflict will be cultural…The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future” S. P. Huntington

The rise of civilization clash has coincided with other 4 historical developments. They are: the relative decline of the West The rise of the Asian economy and its associated cultural affirmation, with China poised to become the greatest power in history a population explosion in the Muslim world, and the associated resurgence of Islam the impact of globalization

Globalization and Civilizational Differences Globalization optimists – similar cultural identity on the rise…! True? Despite Globalization, local cultures will survive…limited appeal of Western civilization Because of Globalization, people will be exposed to different cultures and feel alienated… World is becoming a smaller place, with civilizational consciousness leading to animosity.

The hegemony of the Western culture is most contested by Sinic and Islamic cultures Sinic or Asian culture vs. Western culture? Islam culture vs. Western culture?

Sinic-Islamic connection? While ideological division of Europe has disappeared the cultural division between Western Christianity and Islam has re-emerged. “The most prominent form of this co-operation is Confucian-Islamic connection, that has emerged to challenge Western interests, values and powers” China is rapidly increasing its military spending with modernization of its armed forces. It is purchasing weapons from the former Soviet Union and is also a major exporter of arms and weapon technology.. “A Confucian-Islamic military connection has thus come into being to counter military power of the West.”

“In the short term it is clearly in the interests of the West to promote greater co-operation and unity within its own civilization particularly between its European and North American Components…to limit the expansion of military strength of Confucian and Islamic states; to exploit differences and conflicts among Confucian and Islamic States; to support other civilizations, groups, sympathetic to Western values and interests” - S. P. Huntington

Fahreed Zakaria on 911 and Islamic Fundamentalism Does the nature of international conflict in the post-Cold War conform to Huntington’s thesis? Fahreed Zakaria on 911 and Islamic Fundamentalism Why did 911 take place? Because something’s wrong with them (Islam)… Paul Johnson – Islam is violent.. Others – not really… Because something’s wrong with us (the US)…

Zakaria finds the answer in the failed statehood of the middle eastern countries… Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Jordan… Failed statehood combined with huge population growth…