Nationalism: its core ideas of the nation, self-determination, identity and sovereignty, and the differences between liberal, conservative, expansionist and anti-colonial nationalism.

What this dot point is asking

This WJEC A2 topic asks you to explain the core ideas of nationalism and to evaluate how far it is a single, coherent ideology. You need the central nationalist commitments to the nation, self-determination, identity and sovereignty, the civic and ethnic distinction, and the very different political forms nationalism can take.

The answer

The core ideas of nationalism

The nation: civic and ethnic

This distinction explains why nationalism can be inclusive and tolerant in one form and exclusive and chauvinistic in another.

Self-determination, identity and sovereignty

National self-determination is the principle that each nation has the right to govern itself, ideally in its own sovereign state, which has driven both independence movements and the redrawing of borders. National identity provides a sense of belonging and shared destiny, and sovereignty locates supreme authority in the nation-state.

The types of nationalism

Nationalism attaches to strikingly different politics.

• Liberal nationalism. Stresses self-determination, tolerance and the equality of nations, seeing a world of self-governing nations as a basis for peace.
• Anti-colonial nationalism. Seeks national liberation from colonial rule and the creation of independent states.
• Conservative nationalism. Stresses national identity, tradition, social order and patriotism, often defensively.
• Expansionist nationalism. An aggressive, chauvinistic form asserting national superiority and seeking expansion, associated with conflict.

The debate

The central evaluative question is whether nationalism is a single, coherent ideology. There is a shared core: the nation, self-determination and identity. But nationalism attaches to opposite politics (tolerant liberal nationalism versus aggressive expansionism; inclusive civic versus exclusive ethnic), so many argue it is better seen as a cross-cutting set of ideas that combines with other ideologies rather than a unified doctrine.

Examples in context

The same principle, opposite outcomes. The question of nationalism's coherence is sharpened by the principle of self-determination. In its liberal and anti-colonial forms, self-determination is a liberating idea: it justifies a people freeing itself from foreign or colonial rule and governing itself, and it can be tolerant and inclusive through a civic conception of the nation. In its expansionist form, the same nationalist energy becomes aggressive, asserting national superiority and seeking to dominate others, often resting on an exclusive ethnic conception. One family of ideas thus produces both national liberation and national aggression, which is the strongest evidence that nationalism is a cross-cutting set of ideas rather than a single coherent ideology.

Try this

Q1. What is national self-determination? [3 marks]

• Cue. The principle that each nation has the right to govern itself, ideally in its own sovereign state.

Q2. What is the difference between civic and ethnic nationalism? [4 marks]

• Cue. Civic nationalism is based on shared citizenship and values; ethnic nationalism on shared ancestry, culture and ethnicity.

Q3. To what extent is nationalism a single, coherent ideology? [25 marks]

• What the marker wants. A judgement weighing the shared nationalist core against the deep variety of nationalist politics, from liberal to expansionist.