Denmark, France, and Germany. Since 2012, Russia has invoked emotional national-
istic appeals in its domestic political pronouncements and used nationalism as part of
the rationale for movement into the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. In India, ardent
Hindu nationalists continue to define themselves in contrast to the nation’s
Muslim population. As a justification for retaining power and to garner support for
political policies, the Chinese Communist Party instills nationalism through the edu-
cational system and popular media. There have also been recent indicators that
nationalism is growing in Japan. Nor is the United States exempt from nationalism,
as demonstrated when some politicos conflate “American exceptionalism” with
nationalism.^33 When faced with any nationalistically based call, one should always
keep in mind that a fundamental function of nationalism is the creation of an“us”
and a“them.”
Conflicting territorial claims have been a historical constant due to fluctuating
borders arising from wars, treaties, political intrigues, and mass migration. Many of
the world’s established borders are seen as being unilaterally imposed by former colo-
nial powers or viewed through the perspective of divided historical memory. Today,
most historically based disagreements lie dormant, confined to occasional rhetorical
exchanges between the disputants. However, in several areas, these ongoing territorial
differences remain active and carry the potential to disrupt the greater social order.
For example, the absence of a clearly defined demarcation between Israeli and Pales-
tinian territory has been festering almost 100 years and remains an extremely volatile
situation today. An inability to agree on a border in the Kashmir region following the
1947 Partition has left Indian and Pakistani armed forces aligned along the Line of
Control in Kashmir. The situation is made more dangerous due to both nations pos-
sessing nuclear weapons. Only a little farther to the north, since their 1962 border
war, Indian and Chinese forces have been separated by an imaginary line extending
over 2,500 miles through an area of disputed territory. In more recent conflicts, China
has used vague historical documents and indistinct claimed boundaries to assert sov-
ereignty over as much as 90 percent of the entire South China Sea, a claim that con-
flicts with the maritime economic boundaries of six other littoral nations. Incidents
between Chinese and Vietnamese ships in the South China Sea in 2014 led to riots
and the destruction of Chinese properties in Vietnam. Russia’s military takeover of
the Crimea, the support of rebels in eastern Ukraine, and President Putin’s jingoistic
pronouncements have unsettled the entire European continent.^34
The foregoing discussion of the numerous challenges confronting the globalized
community was designed to provide you with a broad overview of the current and
evolving circumstances that carry the potential to create friction, instability, and
even conflict between nations. The purpose was to demonstrate the requirement for
international cooperation and, when needed, global governance in managing these
problems. The root cause of conflict often lies in an overemphasis on differences
between the groups involved. This book aims to develop your intercultural skills so
that you may play a role in resolving some of the conflicts in the globalized world.Technology
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