Fascism in the Contemporary World
This research examines the development of fascism and ultranationalism in contemporary Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia. Fascism and ultranationalism are not one and the same thing. While a fascist likely will be an ultranationalist (and will certainly be nationalistic), an ultranationalist need not necessarily be a fascist. As these two terms are critical to this examination, they must be defined.
Ultranationalism
Ultranationalism implies not only an intensely patriotic attitude toward and a highly chauvinistic perception of one's own nation, but also implies a desire to exclude others from one's nation, particularly should those others be in some way different from the majority population in one's own nation. By and large, the United States has one of the most intensely patriotic populations on the globe, and certainly has the most chauvinistic population of any major nation. The American population is also highly insular in that the broad base of the population possesses little knowledge about the rest of the world. The American government, however, tends to be highly interventionist internationally in contrast to the general insularity of the population. The population of the United States tends to be divided, however, with respect to a desire to exclude immigrants from the nation.
The dichotomies involving an interventionist government and an insular population, and both pro and antiimmigration
elements within the population keep the United States from being designated as an ultranationalist country, although strong ultranationalist forces are present in American society. Among the major nations, both Germany and Japan are better examples of ultranation...
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In fact, sometimes it is actively encouraged as part of preserving the culture and the traditional aspects of the nation in question; for example, routine celebrations of national holiday and the wearing of cultural clothing demonstrate moderate forms of nationalism. However, it is when extreme pride in one’s nation leads to acts that contravene common decency that the forces of nationalism become dangerous. A historical example of such an event was the Bosnian war and the resulting Bosnian genocide that occurred shortly after the partition of Yugoslavia in the early 1990’s. In this event, extreme Serbian nationalism called for the unity of the Serbian peoples in Bosnia-Herzegovina - an event that echoes the words of the source. Serbian leaders and followers believed that their culture and people were superior to that of the neighbouring ethnic groups - the Bosniaks and the Croatians - and thought that they needed to be eliminated because of the potential threat they posed to the establishment of an autonomous Serbian Republic, or “Greater Serbia”. In the course of the war, and the ethnic cleansing that followed, more than 100,000 Bosniaks and Croatians were to be killed in a mass act of genocide. This appalling and gruesome figure shows the extent to which extreme nationalism is unacceptable and how unification of a people by force is both detrimental and wrong on all
Greer, Cora. "Competing Perspectives on the Past in U.S. History Textbooks." AP Central. CollegeBoard, 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 12 May 2014.
The dispute that throughout “American Exceptionalism”, is an ancient perception of which becomes a well-respected idea that is idealistically important throughout history, it makes what America will become and forever be known as. It reflects on the ideas of foreign policies to become what we call America today; in which it remains the current movement in globalization. Eric Rauchway, Blessed Among Nations, explains that globalizations the movement of the regional economies, societies, and cultures that is combined through a constituent network of communication to lower a violation of social more, which makes America a world-wide leader in combating the cultural violation to these social mores. In our time, it seems that globalization has become an large extent the product of American policies since WWII.
...uation that had enveloped in the country. Also discussed the powerful rise in a leader who invoked a “Greater Serbia”, and who used Nationalism to destroy Yugoslavia as a country.
Throughout the years, humans have constructed many unique civilizations; all which follow a distinct social, economic, and political structure. Even so, there is one characteristic that prevails among these societies, the concept of nationalism. In short, nationalism refers to the feelings people have when identifying with their nation. This simple notion possesses the ability to divide or unite collective groups, and has played an important role in many historical events.
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Ultra-nationalism is not nationalism, but what does it take to make an ultra-nationalistic nation? What is the difference between nationalism and ultra-nationalism? Is the source one-hundred percent correct when it says ultra-nationalism doesn’t come from the nation or the people themselves? Though most of what the source say’s is correct, ultra-nationalism must come from more than just one person, or else the term ultra-nationalism would not include a whole nation.
Hollitz, John. Thinking Through the Past: A Critical Thinking Approach to U.S. History Vol I: to 1877. 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.
Fascism is defined as, “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.” Peter Hyland reports that throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, an economic depression was growing and becoming widespread throughout the world. People were losing faith in their democracies and in capitalism. Leaders who gained power supported powerful militarism, nationalism, and initiated the return of an authoritarian rule. J.R. Oppenheimer says that the rise of fascism and totalitarianism in Europe and Russia instigated a “critical step on the path to war.”
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Each author demonstrates the toughness of the spirit, and provide no solution, as history never does. It is up to the individual to decide whether history will repeat itself, or whether or not a scapegoat will be found. However, Griffin, Rodriguez, and Ellison all did their part in providing possible solutions.…for history.
The changes that we have recently experienced at the global level, this new era of globalization, has made the entire peoples relive the feelings of nationalism, unfortunately in a wrong way. Because of leaders with the coveted power, these feelings of nationalism have been conducted through the anger, hatred, intolerance, and violence.
The last two decades of the twentieth century gave rise to turbulent times for constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, eventually leading them to split apart. There were a number of damaging aspects of past history and of the political and economic circumstances that contributed to the breakup and eventually caused the situation to snowball into a deadly series of inter-ethnic conflicts. Yugoslavia was reunified at the end of the war when the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito liberated the country. Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a relatively liberal form of government in comparison to other East European communist states at the time and experienced a period of relative economic and political stability until Tito’s death in 1980. In addition to internal power struggles following the loss of their longtime leader, Yugoslavia faced an unprecedented economic crisis in the 1980’s. As other communist states began to fall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, some former Communist leaders abandoned communism and founded or supported ethno-national parties, blaming the economic suffering on the flaws of communism and other ethnic groups. The ethnic violence that followed would not have been possible without the willingness of politicians from every side to promote ethno-nationalist symbols and myths through media blitzes, which were especially effective due to low levels of education in the former Yugoslavia. Shadows of the events of World War II gave these politicians, especially the Serbs, an opportunity to encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities later in the century. The ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia can be traced back to a series of linked damaging factors such as the de...
Nationalism has played a crucial role in world history over the past centuries. It continues to do so today. For many, nationalism is indelibly associated with some of the worst aspects of modern history, such as the destructive confidence of the Napoleon’s army and the murderous pride of Nazi Germany. Large numbers of people, descent in their hearts, have carried out unbelievable atrocities for no better reason than their nation required them to. Authoritarian and totalitarian regime have crushed dissent, eliminated opposition, and trampled on civil liberties in the name of the nation.