To What Extent Can the Pursuit of Ultranationalism Lead to Crimes Against Humanity? Free Essay

Ultranationalism: Its Differences From Nationalism and Danger

 

Nationalism is a relatively modern concept, which is used to define concrete social, political and economic ideology in relation to the interests of the concrete nation. Any nation aims at maintaining of the national sovereignty over the territories, belonging to it. Nationalism supports the point of view that each nation should have the right to govern itself and avoid any outside interference. One of the important aims of nationalism is formation of single national identity. Although theoretically all these ideas seem to have positive meaning for nations, still nationalism could be both positive and negative. It depends upon the concrete context. Nationalism is a strong driver for independence movements and revolutions, it lays the basis for building of national identity, at the same time, however, nationalism played its key roles for such cases as Holocaust or Japan.

Mostly the negative consequences of nationalism are related to the extreme form of it, which is called ultra-nationalism. Ultra-nationalisms reveal loyalty towards the representatives of their own nation, whereas they are hostile towards representatives of other nations and could even develop racist views and positions. Ultra-nationalism is very close to racism, as it is also a form of oppression. The brightest examples of ultra-nationalism in the world history are those of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and Nazism. The concepts of nationalism and ultra-nationalism are very close to each other, still they are different. Ultra-nationalism is characterized by hostility and oppression to other positions and other types of nationalism. Ultra-nationalism develops in the counties, which are in the state of crisis or the countries, where the leaders are dictators. An example, offered by Hoogeveen Scully in the book Exploring Nationalism, is the situation after World War I and Germany and Japan.  Japan suffered from the ruined business deals because of the Great Depression and Germany had to face serious inflation. In addition, both counties were led by dictators – Adolf Hitler in Germany and Emperor Hiroshito in Japan.

People have different reactions to ultra-nationalism: war, peacekeeping or appeasement. An example of appeasement could be traced in the history of Britain, when the country decided to take no actions in reaction to the expansion of Germany onto Poland at the beginning of World War II. The leaders of the country chose appeasement, as they were convinced that was the best way to avoid another World War. An example of response could be traced in the history of Canada, when the country joint World War II and fought against ultra-nationalist Nazi party of Germany. Finally, the historical example of peacekeeping was in the situation of Suez Canal crisis. When in 1956 the Suez Canal was seized by Egyptian authorities, they were convinced that the benefits, brought by this canal, were to be provided to Egypt people and not the private company and its shareholders. France, Britain and Israeli entered the areas in order to reestablish the control.

Ultra-nationalism is dangerous, as it might lead to crimes against humanity and genocide. There are enough examples of war crimes and genocide in the world history, which were based on the concept of ultra-nationalism, including American nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed there during the bombings. International community did not take any actions in response, as these bombings were not considered to belong to war crimes category. However, the situation seems to be different if considered from the Japan’s perspective.

Overall, ultra-nationalism is a rather extreme and dangerous form of nationalism and has a great potential of resulting in war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Works cited:

Hobsbawm, Eric J.  Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge University Press, 1992

Hoogeveen Scully. Exploring Nationalism. McGraw-Hill Ryerson; 1st edition, 2008

 

 

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 19, 2024]
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