ALLISON RAY

A nation is defined as “a large area of land that is controlled by its own government (Merriam-Webster).” In regards to nationalism, however, a more fitting way to explain the idea behind nation-alism is to begin with a different definition:

Community: (noun) a group of people living in the same place or

having a particular characteristic in common (Merriam-Webster).

 The root of nationalism lies in a tightknit and well-established society. This society, when united by a shared struggle or purpose, survives for an extensive period of time - typically in pursuit of some sort of power. Power is a phenomenon among nations. An individual who identifies as a ‘nationalist’ most often hopes for a state that matches the foundation of the nation. Fareed Zakaria writes in his book Post-American World, “…when I write of the rise of nationalism, I am describing a broader phenomenon – the assertion of identity. That nation-state is a relatively new invention, often no more than a hundred years old. Much older are the religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups that live within nation-states. And these bonds have stayed strong, in fact grown, as economic interdependence has deepened (Zakaria 41).” England has practically become the face of nationalism throughout the centuries beginning with the Anglo-Saxons, followed by the medieval era, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and finally modern day “English”.

            The Anglo-Saxons, descendants of the Germanic people who settled in Britain, ruled the region today known as England for 600 years. They are responsible for the formation of England’s culture, language, and borders. Their reign began when the Roman occupation of Britain ended. However, James Campbell, a fellow at Worcester College, University of Oxford, suggests that it was not until the late Anglo-Saxon period that England could even be described as a nation-state, which emphasizes the lasting effect the Saxons had on this region. The Normans, who took over at the beginning of the Medeival era in 1066, brought their Anglo-Norman language with them as well as their religious backgrounds. The first Norman ruler of the region was William the Conqueror, who led the Norman conquest. He is known for changing the landscape of England by focusing his efforts on infrastructure, as well as rearranging the heirarchy of the English clergy. Moreover, the largest effect on religion to date in the country of England was caused by the transition of power to the Tudors and the following English Reformation, which ultimately divided the state from the church it had been attached to for hundreds of years. Decades of collaboration between all of these “religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups (Zakaria)” has formed what we know today as modern day England. Zakaria also mentions in his writing A Non-Western World? just how powerful Europe as a whole was during this time, “Within a hundred years of initial European contact, one trend was unmistakable and irreversable: these encounters changed or destroyed the existing political, social, and economic arrangements in Non-Western societies (Zakaria 79).”

            English nationalists today proudly identify themselves as “English” rather than “British”.  That being said, it is difficult to identify a distinctive group of English nationalists today. This is most likely because without ‘struggle’ there is no purpose for nationalists to unite. The closest thing to a struggle that England is facing today is that of economic inequality. For instance, in the past ten years the poorest tenth of the population has not seen a growth in their income whereas the profits of the richest tenth have increased every year (The Poverty Site 2010). 

On the other hand, England’s capital, London, is the city with the highest income in the United Kingdom (The Equality Trust 2015). Nationalism, in a country that has experienced all kinds, is currently what could arguably be called going through an all-time low.

           

            

Nationalism in Greece

            Nationalism is the country’s thought that its role in an event or that its interest is of the utmost importance in the world. In Greece, this plays out in the wake of the economic downfall. Interestingly, Greece and Germany are in a bit of a “name-calling” stand-off, where Germany is degrading Greece over its poor economy, but Greece pointing out that Germany went through its own economic downfall, particularly after the events of World War I. In this, Greece’s bailout plan seems like it would have been a treasure to the once-desolate country of Germany, who had virtually no help after the war.

            Zakaria sees danger in the rise of nationalism because it’s not interconnected. We’re not independent countries that don’t interact with one another. In The Post-American World, Zakaria talks about how the United States, when it involves itself into international crisis, generally thinks it is helping, and not hurting (Zakaria, 33). This is not always the case (for example the Vietnam war, where we implanted ourselves into a state that did not want our help establishing a new rule). Zakaria also talked about how America can only accommodate itself to the rise of other powers if it is willing to have other major countries become larger stakeholders in the “new order.” (Zakaria, 44). Basically, he’s talking about how the United States needs to share its toys with other countries, because when everybody gets to play, everybody is happy. An example in Greece would be between the massive slave population and the white, land-owning males. In this case, the ratio number of slaves versus the number of land-owning men were severely outnumbered. In this case, the biggest reason given to the freedom of slaves was the revolts during Sparta’s war with Greece.

Cartoon displaying Greek inequality
Courtesy of The TOC

            

          A study by IMK shows that the rise of austerity in Greece has led to inequality income between the lower-income households and upper-income households. What the study showed was that between the years 2008 and 2012, with the growth in poverty has also made the richer a lot richer. It showed that some social indicators were the result of a bad crisis management (especially during the economic crisis Greece is going through at this point) which only happened at the expense of political power and income gain. In this case, inequality is the difference between being able to get by and complete and total poverty to those who have been on the bad receiving-end of this crisis.

           

The results come in the form of a growing poverty level in Greece. It’s also leading to a scramble when it comes to the Greek bailout program and the immigration crisis that is now going through all of Europe.

Italian Nationalism

Italian Revolution@Suggestedkeywords.com 

Nationalism, oh, nationalism. What a somewhat wonderful yet somewhat idiotic concept. The flags, the festivals, the overtaking of majority of Europe; yes, that is our dear nationalism. Nationalism is that sweet and sometimes restricting feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country, often tied to the belief that it’s better and more important than other countries. According to Zakaria, these feelings can often lead to tension between nations and make them less likely to work together.

Italians have a weird relationship with nationalism. Coming into the beginnings of World War 2, Italy saw the rise of Benito Mussolini, who had the belief that if he could unite the Italian states into one then he could mold them into a second Roman Empire. He formed the right-winged fascists partyFasci di Combattimento (FightingBands) that advocated for Italian nationalism and superiority. I could go on with this story, but quite frankly, I think we all know how this ended for Mussolini and the Italians.

Italian's Surrendering to Allies@History.com

After World War 2, nationalism in Italy took a back seat due to the bad residual feeling that it left on many Italians. Italy saw little peaks of it due to former Mussolini supporters, but nationalism never really took off in Italy the way it did during the mid 20^th century. In the modern era, nationalism really only sees support from right-winged parties in Italy.

However, Italy seems to have moved towards a more sub-nationalistic approach- which Zakaria notes as a smaller form of nationalism that centers around loyalty to things like tribes or religions instead of your country of origin- where instead if it being Italy against the world, the divide lies between Northern and Southern Italians, especially when it comes to income inequality.

Last semester in my Elementary Italian class, my Sardegnian (Italian spelling. English spelling is Sardinian) teacher took a few moments to address the North-South divide of her country. In the midst of a huge African migration that is overwhelming Southern Italy and not helping the crippled agricultural-economy that the South depends on, Southern Italians are often moving north for job opportunities. However, they’re being met with tension and elitism from the richer, Northern Italians.

The income inequality between northern and southern Italy is dividing the country. Many Southern Italians are becoming angry and the lack of relief given by the Italian government. In the video presented, Carlo Borgomeo- the President of the Southern Foundation- says that “…we continue to see that the Italian state neglects the South...” which he then goes on to also put blame on the Southern Italians who don’t make efforts either.

The income divide is severe. In 2010, the real GDP per capita data showed that cities further North like Milan make almost twice as much cities in the South.

This has prompted many people to speak out. Roberto Saviano, an influential Neapolitan writer, wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that “urged the prime minister to ‘take action’ and ‘admit that nothing has been done’ to stop the ‘desertification’ of the south.” (Site used for translation. Original piece can be found here.)

Many have suggested that the divide stems from the Unification of Italy in the 1860’s. The polices put into place then have determined the outcome.

The tensions are so high that there are Northerners who- fed up with the constant subsidizing of the southern economy- support the Lega Nord (page is in Italian) movement that advocates for Northern succession. The right-winged party is currently making huge gains in Italy due to their anti-immigration platform.

Italian Regions Stereotypes@CulturalKinetics.wordpress.com

I believe that as the divide continues to grow between the two parts of Italy, we’ll either see major reforms that will help turn the economy in the South around and join Italy once again, or we’ll see that the divide will become so big that the succession idea will win out, once again breaking Italy into autonomous states instead of one unified nation.