Hobbesian Fear Summary

The presence of hobbesian fear is thoroughly discussed in the article by Michael Ignatieff. His analysis of the rivalry between the Serbs and Croats provides logical reasoning to believe that action based off of fear played a large role in the development of their ethnic contention and therefore pushed each side to develop ethnic nationalism. Ignatieff describes a power difference between the two ethnic groups that began to ignite a fear of dominance in the less powerful ethnic group. The reading goes into further detail about the evolution of an often artificial or unreasonable fear into the presence of nationalism. Essentially, a reason people become nationalistic stems from hobbesian fear however …show more content…
It is described that fear stemming from paranoia of other groups turns into ethnic nationalism when the question who will protect them from that other group comes into play (Ignatieff, 1994). Their answer to that question is that only their own people can shield or protect them from the immediate threat of that other group. Therefore, according to the article, a bias and faith in one group based on ethnicity is fostered by a fear of another group. A fear that awakens when the other group establishes a sense of dominance over their own ethnic group. From that information, it is reasonable to conclude that ethnic nationalism stemming from hobbesian fear is not a natural phenomenon. While fear in itself serves a natural function to safety, hobbesian fear stemming from natural