economic interests from other nation states. Ironically, while the significance of
the concept appears to be weakening in Western Europe, where those nation
states previously to be regarded as the most established are moving towards
integration through theEuropean Union, in other parts of the world, and
particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, new nation states
have been born or historic ones re-established. There can be no better example
than the former Yugoslavia that geography does not always coincide with
national and cultural identity. In the long term the increasing internationaliza-
tion of world society may prove the nation state to have been historically
artificial and relatively short-lived, with global interests and concerns coming
to be seen as more important than localized cultural and ethnic identities.
National Socialism
National socialism was the doctrine of the German Nazi party (the full title of
which was the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), a blend of
intense nationalist, even xenophobic, policy with some pretences to be
socialist, in at least the sense of representing the workers (hence the Arbeit
in the full German title). It could never in fact be socialist, because it denied the
reality of classes and class conflict, arguing instead that there was one true
German nation, whose natural unity was threatened only by ‘non-German’
elements inside the country, and by external enemies. National socialism was
closely allied with the wave offascismwhich swept much of Europe in the
1920s and 1930s, although it had its roots in ideas already circulating in 19th-
century Germany, and itsracism, and particularlyanti-Semitism, was far
more pronounced than other fascist parties. However, as is usually true in
fascist movements, opportunism was rampant, and any symbol that could be
invoked to get support was used.
Nationalism
Nationalism is the political belief that some group of people represents a
natural community which should live under one political system, be indepen-
dent of others and, often, has the right to demand an equal standing in the
world order with others. Although sometimes a genuine and widespread
belief, especially under conditions of foreign rule, it is equally often a symbolic
tool used by political leaders to control their citizens. Some political leaders
have made use of nationalism by stressing national unity and focusing on threats
from those who are clearly ‘foreign’ or ‘different’ to disguise or to execute
otherwise unpopular policies. At its simplest nationalism contrasts with inter-
nationalist movements or creeds, and means a stress on local, at times almost
tribal, identities and loyalties. Whether one sees nationalism as natural and
Nationalism