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Essay on importance of unification
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Ever since its creation in 1707, the United Kingdom of Great Britain has been a powerful union of many different nations and identities, including the English, Scots, Welsh and later Irish. From the Middle Ages until the Second World War this union had not only fortified its domestic political power but also expanded its reign across the entire world, resulting in the world’s largest and mightiest empire, the British Empire. This great achievement of the union was mainly due to the remarkable sense of unity of its people who considered themselves primarily as British and secondly as Scots, Welsh or Irish. By the end of the Second World War, however, the domestic governance stability also threatened to collapse as many foreign colonies of the Empire seized independence. The Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish started demanding more and more political independence from Westminster and by the end of the 20th century they were finally granted own national parliaments. After this process of devolution, the English people started questioning their own identity and what distinguished them from the Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish. But is there a national identity in England and if yes can this national identity be politically mobilized in the near future?
When investigating English national identity and its possible future political mobilization it is crucial to analyze its meaning and history in the first part. Bechhofer and McCrone (2009) explain national identity as a political, sociological, cultural and psychological construct which is highly influence by the media, political changes within a state and its institutions. National identity, therefore, stays in a very close connection to notions such as nation, nationhood and nati...
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...necessary in the eyes of the English voters that mainly vote in regard of other more important issues and debates. Partly contradicting Copus, Kumar (2001) explains that a future English nationalism is does not have to be excluded and very possible, but no one can now say how this is reflected in the future. To put it in a nutshell, in my opinion a political mobilization of the English identity in the near future is rather not probable since the English people are clearly not in the need of it an English parliament. Not only due to the multicultural aspect of its society today but also due to its imperialistic past, the English identity has become multifaceted and interpreted in many ways which makes it much harder for the English nationalism to evolve compared to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Therefore, a unified mobilization is in the near future not thinkable.
McClintock, Ann. “No Longer in a Future Heaven: Nationalism, Gender and Race”. In: G. Eley e.a. (eds), Becoming national. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 1996. 259-284
Henderson, Ailsa. Hierarchies of belonging: National identity and political culture in Scotland and Quebec. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP, 2007.
Scottish devolution, with its advantages and disadvantages, is the best example of how great political and social changes can be achieved not through bloody revolution but with the patience, intelligence and hard work of a united country but is still a work in progress.
Broadly speaking, Britain’s conflicting promises and attempts to contain two nation-states under one mandate led to its fragmentation. Conflicting perspectives arise from views on Britain’s
Print. The. national identity, n. OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. The Web.
The Acts of Union were signed in 1707, uniting Scotland and England as one , forming one of the most admired countries in the world, Great Britain. England, until now, has been the most powerful sovereign state of Britain and holds nearly all control over Scotland and its neighbouring countries, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland, having previously once been its own country, would now like to gain control and take care of its own affairs again. Back in 2013 it was arranged that on September 18th, 2014, Scotland will hold a referendum for the Scottish people who will vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ if they believe Scotland should become an independent country.
“Nationalism is the belief that people’s greatest loyalty should not be to a king or an empire but to a nation of people who share a common culture and history” (McDougal 253). Before the 18th century, people of a common ethnicity accepted the king that ruled over them, even if he was from a different nation. However, after the French Revolution of 1830, smaller groups of people who shared the same history and culture began to form together and create a nation-state. The rise of nationalism in the 19th century changed Europe’s borders as nationalists strengthened and unified nations such as England and Italy, but also separated large empires like the Russian Empire.
Many basic descriptions of what nationalism is exist, and defining precisely what nationalism means is not an easy task. This is in large part because the causes and effects of nationalism greatly varies from social context to social context, as the concrete social reality determines the specific shape and character that the nationalism idea takes when it comes to hold a large part of the consciousness of a society (I say the ‘nationalism idea’ for I feel that nationalism is, primarily, in the realm of the ideological). Put more succinctly “Nationalism can be, and has been, democratic and authoritarian, forward-looking or backward-looking, socialist or reactionary” (Kamenka 1976: 3).
As harmful as ethnic nationalism can be, nationalism can be a force for good. Civic nationalism, as opposed to ethnic nationalism, successfully unites people not by race or ethnicity, but by similar values and ideals. For example, the United States of America was upon the common ideals of freedom and equality. According to one expert, “The United States accepted men of all kinds of descent as their alma mater, transforming them into a ‘new race of men’” (Kohn). The non-exclusivity of American nationalism is exactly what sets apart civic nationalism from ethnic nationalism.
Huntington, Samuel. 2004. “Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity”, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Nationalism is the idea that a people who have much in common, such as language, culture and geographic proximity ought to organize in such a way that it creates a stable and enduring state. Nationalism is tied to patriotism, and it is the driving force behind the identity of a culture. Nationalism had many effects in Europe from 1815, The Congress of Vienna and beyond. In the following essay I will describe many of the consequences of nationalism on European identity, as well as some of the conflicts that it created.
known for decades: it pays to invest in Canada. There is a government commitment to attract foreign direct investment. Canada's government provides a competitive, welcoming climate for international business. It is committed to fiscal responsibility, deficit reduction and job creation.
The nature and meaning of the term ‘nationalism’ has many different facets and dimensions. At times, deconstructing the different theoretical literature can become confusing and complicated process. These ambiguities arise from the different meanings scholars attribute to the term, while also the nature and meaning of nationalism is constantly being contested. To Primordialists, the *path to nationalism
Salazar, J.M., 1998, ‘Social identity and national identity’, in Worchel, S., Morales, J.F., Páez, D., Deschamps, J.-C. (Eds.), Social Identity, International Perspectives. Sage, London.
The country that I am doing for my report is New Zealand. New Zealand is made up of two Islands. The north and the south islands. It is located in the south pacific by Australia.