Nationalism is one of the world’s most powerful phenomena and was a sort of religion in the 19th century. It has been the moving factor behind the events and histories in recent time as well as in ancient time. Despite the disagreement among some political thinkers about the origin of nationalism, who points it to the 18th or 19th century, nationalism in some form or other has been one of the important factors in the development of mankind. Nationalism is a concrete concept or reality like that of a state and government or other institutions.
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Nation State in Europe
The French Revolution was a landmark for the rise of nationalism. It is worth mentioning that the French people were bubbling with desire to be free from the oppressive and repressive regime. Their imaginations were fired with the freedom and liberty. The French philosophers like Rousseau and Montesquieu had lighted this fire. Rousseau, the great champion of the human freedom and the liberty, declared that ‘men are born free but everywhere they are in chains’.
Rousseau maintained that this chain could be broken if the people established their popular government. Montesquieu popularized the merits of the ‘separation of powers and the constitutional government’. Voltaire made the evils of the absolute rule and corruption in the Church open. So, the people’s imaginations were fired by the triple watch words of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’. This revolution shook the whole world and inspired Europe to reorganize its societies on a new basis of liberty, equality, and fraternity, which led to the foundation of the nation-state in Central and Eastern Europe.
Nation State in America
The American Revolution marked the beginning of the rise of the nation-state. It was the first event in the history that can be aptly termed as ‘revolution’. It revolutionized the concept of freedom and liberty, making these the basis of the government. The thirteen colonies of the Americas showed the first stirrings of liberty during the second half of the 18th century. Though their longing for liberty came out of commercial interest, yet it led to the establishment of liberty, freedom, and equality.
Anti-Colonial Nationalism
The anti-colonial nationalism that emerged in the imperialist colonies of Asia and Africa provided a new dimension of the theory of nationalism. It gave the concept of a large perspective, making it free from west-centric definition and meaning. The emergence of India, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Vietnam and others as independent nations, and their sustained struggle and fight against imperialist forces established nationalism as values on par with liberty, equality and justice.
The nature and roots of the anti-colonial nationalism were entirely different from the nationalism that developed in the West. The nationalism, which arose in Asia and Africa, became the basis of the state organization. Though its structural and organizational models were based on the states of Western Europe, it has a nationalist ideology based on and developed out of indigenous, historical, and cultural factors.
It gave rise to the concept of national unity, based on geographical parts and diversity of ethnicity, religion, language, and culture, as best exemplified by India. Indian National Movement under the leadership of Gandhi added a new dimension to the nationalism, by attaining freedom through non-violent and peaceful methods.
Thus, the rise of nationalism gave a base for the formation of nation-states in the new world order.