Nationalism: beginnings, political interests
Since the creation of the concept of nationalism, this meant a sense of belonging by citizens to their nation. Each individual belongs to one and feel identified with her, so they defend her completely. This concept is called "national identity" and is considered as what determines the essence of the person. In addition, it was the ideology that led to the modernization and transformation of nations in the nineteenth century and the formation of states within these. An example of nationalist ideology is that of Germany during World War II and France during the French Revolution, which was the first to demonstrate the existence of this ideology. On the other hand, nationalism not only manifested about socio -political, also had a turn to the ethnicist.
The new nationalism, as Josep Martí calls it, manifests itself in the 21st century in a way similar to the nationalism of the nineteenth century but showing some hostility towards immigrants instead of showing it towards other nations. Current nationalism wants to preserve differences (reject homogeneity, cultural uniformization), pronouncing (in the west) mainly in the name of social and cultural identities, and against the state organization. This in turn, does not intend to form a new state but, seeks to resist the effects of immigration and globalization. The latter is presented as “a set of homogenization processes and, at the same time, of articulated subdivision of the world, which rearrange the differences and inequalities without suppressing them” (García Canclini; cited by Martí, 2001, P. 161). However, nationalism also contains universalist elements as a system, which considers that we cannot define as opposed to globalization and nationalism.
Creation of nationalism
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, most European countries were organized in an unfair way both economic (feudalism) and politics (absolute monarchy) and socially (state society). The power was concentrated in the king who had the freedom to do what he wanted with the country and its inhabitants (subjects). Being state societies, the members of the nobility and the clergy had certain privileges, as well as the control of land and therefore of the economy. Little by little, the bourgeoisie (merchants), began to have greater purchasing power and education as a consequence of the Enlightenment and, therefore, to question the organization of the kingdoms and the power of the king. After a series of important processes that include the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, important changes were given in society.
The disagreement of both the bourgeoisie and the peasants with the organization of societies, together with the enlightenment and other revolutionary ideas, gave rise to countless revolutions and initiatives commanded by the bourgeoisie with the support of the rest of the unpricate. The French revolution that occurred since 1789 meant an abysmal change, brought with it the end of the ancient regime, declared human rights, marked the beginnings of democracy and meant the change of France from a kingdom to a state or nation (also cemented theconcept of nationalism). It was a process that originates from the search for rights and freedoms for the population of the French kingdom, as well as popular sovereignty. Unlike the revolutions prior to the 19th century, it marked a precedent and affirmed nationalism in society (which already exists previously cm rejection of the feudal system).
It is considered that there were two ideologies that made it possible to changes in the 19th century: liberalism and nationalism that functioned as the backbone of all the transformations that took place in the 19th century. We can divide this century into two stages, the first that is constituted by the revolutionary waves of 1820, 1830 and 1848 marked the triumph of these ideologies over the ancients and the second experienced the consolidate of liberalism in governments and nationalism within thesociety. Having political power, both ideologies take a more conservative position and leave aside their revolutionary character (which is why they are put in question by other ideologies that arise in Europe such as Marxism and anarchism) (Lara, 2010).
Nationalism is not the nationalist facts that took place in the 19th century, but is the ideology that was needed to carry out the same. This ideology occurs in nationalist phenomena at various levels depending on society and the organization prior to the 19th century (Cruz, 1995). To explain it better we can use the definition of the Royal Spanish Academy that indicates that nationalism is "[the] ideology of a people who, affirming its nature as a nation, aspires to become a state". This means that the nations in Europe (from the revolutions) wanted to consolidate as states that have a political organization and are independent of others (states). The bases of the nations are two: the constitution and human rights that governed both the organization of the new nation and some rights and norms that each citizen had. It is also considered that the bases of nationalism are the constitution and human rights. This is because the revolutions were caused due to the search for the rights of those that were previously subjects. The nationalism that was the ideology that was used in the creation of the states, is based on two principles that define and condition it. First, there is the national sovereignty that places the nation as the basis of any state. Second, there is the nationality that orders nations to form a state that maintains the same borders (as the nation).
Interests of political nationalism
The political ideology of nationalism is related to the emergence of national nations and states, seen as a modern and new form of political social organization in the European continent. In that sense, it is observed as a political phenomenon that is composed of three phases characteristic: nationalism as national feeling, nationalism as national ideology and finally as a political movement, so it includes the foundations of the European revolutions marked at the time supporting theconcept of political movement. According to Cruz Prados (1995), at the beginning of the 18The only legitimate foundation of the State, and the beginning of a nationality, maintaining that a nation will have to create its own state and its borders must coincide, respectively. Consequently, these nationalist ideologies, as political instruments, were the main basis for provoking revolutionary movements at the end of the 18.
Western Europe was the epicenter of political movements holding the nationalist ideology, using the first phase of a national patriotism that, according to Vergés (2007), mentions that they mobilized large conglomerates of the population to achieve a political objective, based on a national independenceof foreign domain or another factor that could cause danger to the survival of the State. England, at the beginning of the 18th century, experiences the nationalist current for being the first to assume a national formation and an economy under a capitalist model. Liberal and bourgeois revolutions were political movements in Western Europe. However, a cycle later (19th century), in France the French Revolution (1789-1799) was unleashed that, being a political social conflict, the citizen’s link to the political action was always linked to the political action always united with the ideal of patriotism. This movement was directed against the old regime that presented real absolutism, being the main cause by which the ideals of popular freedom and sovereignty were reformulated that originated the revolution in favor of impregnating nationalism. In turn, in Eastern Europe a cultural nationalism was promulgated that was because of the Napoleonic expansion that sought a cultural nationalization of the people.
One of the basic principles of nationalism was based on the national sovereignty of peoples through the creation of their own states, it means that nations were the true communities, since it produced from an act and political ideas. As Cruz Prados (1995) is well written, the political nation that promulgated the nationalist current gave a feeling of belonging to a society, a political community that is inherently unlimited and sovereign. In turn, being a political nation, he contracted the ideals and phases already written above, which at the beginning of the 19th century preserved as two political aspects observed in the different nationalist movements. Liberal nationalism, which consisted of protecting the right of peoples to free themselves from foreign dictatorships and the mutual support of the peoples to achieve nationalization;Traditional nationalism that was based on a criticism where it was expressed that nations were not sustained from the decision -making of the peoples, but also remained as an objective reality, that is, they were based on cultural terms that came from political terms. The first type of nationalism was implemented by countries such as France and England, the second, relatively conservative, was important in Germany.
The characteristic political phenomenon of nationalism was related to absolutism, such are the causes of the revolutions occurred at the time. It is worth mentioning that, as Vergés (2007) explains, nationalism acted violently with the purpose of dismantling the old regime used by feudal Europe, where power is concentrated in a single person, ideology opposite to nationalism. However, by dismantling the old regime and starting a modern stage where society prevails and subsequently known as "nation", it generated an impact on which citizens fought for their fundamental rights, for being recognized as part ofA nation with liberal roots and with an increase in knowledge, based on the distribution attached to culture, ethnicity, religion and, above all, politics to control the government and all means of production. As Cruz Prados (1995) highlights, nationalism plays an important role in democracy, considered as a fundamental identity in Europe against other identities.
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