Nationalism

Nationalism is a state of mind that seeks to make the nation an effective unity and the object of man’s supreme loyalty. It has developed in the western world and is today growing in the other parts of the world. It has prepared the way for modern democratic nation states. It has extended the area of national liberty and individual freedom. Nationalism serves as a source of integration within the state but it is dangerous when it denies the common interest that binds nation to nation. Then it becomes ethnocentrism or chauvinism which is intolerant or imperialism which seeks territorial expansion and political domination. When nationalism cuts one people from another ,it impedes the development of harmonious intergroup of international relations and sows the seeds of international rivalry and wars. In its pure form, nationalism may be binding ideal but in its narrow form it becomes a cause of serious division between nations. Nationalism is a long historical process with strong sentiments attached to it. In the words of Hayes: nationalism when it becomes synonymous with the purest patriotism will prove a unique blessing to humanity and to the world.