In what ways does globalisation affect nationalism?
1. Introduction
Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought about the relationship between globalisation and nationalism. One school holds that globalisation points towards a “post-national, post-ethnic or post-racial future” – a new era of cosmopolitanism in which the atavistic nationalist passions of the 19th and 20th centuries come to seem positively quaint (Brubaker, 2009, p. 24). According to this reading, globalisation and nationalism are rival processes that lead to “opposite poles” – a globalised world will not be a nationalistic world, and vice versa (Greenfeld, 2011, p. 5). Yet, there is another school of thought which takes a quite opposite tack. This school holds that “the age of globalisation is also the age of nationalist resurgence” (Castells, 2010, loc.1429). Far from being opposite poles, it is …show more content…
1). When the two are not congruent, nationalist anger – or at least unease - often ensues. The term entered common parlance during the latter part of the 19th century on the back of Lincoln’s victory in the American Civil War and Prussia’s victory over France (Nairn, 2008). According to Anderson (1991, pp. 6-7), however, nations are largely “imagined communities” – imagined because “the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”. In this sense, nations are socially constructed – but, as we shall see, they are no less powerful for that.
3. The Cosmopolitanist Case
Cosmopolitanists argue that globalisation will, over time, lead to a reduction in nationalism around the world. The arguments they make in support of this claim can be divided into three categories: cultural, economic, and political.
3.1 The Cultural
1. Introduction
Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought about the relationship between globalisation and nationalism. One school holds that globalisation points towards a “post-national, post-ethnic or post-racial future” – a new era of cosmopolitanism in which the atavistic nationalist passions of the 19th and 20th centuries come to seem positively quaint (Brubaker, 2009, p. 24). According to this reading, globalisation and nationalism are rival processes that lead to “opposite poles” – a globalised world will not be a nationalistic world, and vice versa (Greenfeld, 2011, p. 5). Yet, there is another school of thought which takes a quite opposite tack. This school holds that “the age of globalisation is also the age of nationalist resurgence” (Castells, 2010, loc.1429). Far from being opposite poles, it is …show more content…
1). When the two are not congruent, nationalist anger – or at least unease - often ensues. The term entered common parlance during the latter part of the 19th century on the back of Lincoln’s victory in the American Civil War and Prussia’s victory over France (Nairn, 2008). According to Anderson (1991, pp. 6-7), however, nations are largely “imagined communities” – imagined because “the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”. In this sense, nations are socially constructed – but, as we shall see, they are no less powerful for that.
3. The Cosmopolitanist Case
Cosmopolitanists argue that globalisation will, over time, lead to a reduction in nationalism around the world. The arguments they make in support of this claim can be divided into three categories: cultural, economic, and political.
3.1 The Cultural