Question

With the rise of nation-states, new countries discovered nationalism, or a pride in common ethnic heritages, cultures, and beliefs. However, nationalism often created negative consequences. In a few sentences, explain the drawbacks of nationalism. What might go wrong?

Answer 1

It is certainly true that nationalism has its upsides. A national consciousness led to the creation of states (instead of feudal regions or city-states) and remembering traditions and your history is important because it connects you to other people. However, being a national means identifying as something; hence , you are different from others. At some points, nationalism leads to despising other populations either because they are different and have different traditions or because they are simply unknown to us. In its worst instances, nationalism has led to nazism and genocide; the notion that a nation is better than another is the start of such actions. Hence, it is important that despite having a proud knowledge of our history and our identity, we also reach out towards other cultures, accept them and learn from them.