This research examines the development of civic and ethnic nationalism. As well, the relationship between the development of nationalism and social identity theory is reviewed.
The idea that every nation should have its own state·accompanied by the corollary that one ethnic or cultural group should not collectively role over another·has been the most powerful political force of the past two hundred years. "While particular nationalisms vary, this basic nationalist conception of an ideal world order has been remarkably unchanged for well over a century."
The concept of nationalism has survived setbacks since the French Revolution. One argument against the spread of nationalism is that such a phenomenon destabilizes the international political order. The harmful effects of alteration of existing borders·even peaceful alteration·would, it is contended, outweigh the benefits. "The belief of the Bush administration that the United States was a status quo power explains its efforts to keep both the Soviet empire and the Yugoslav federation intact." The breakup of a multinational state may create a regional power vacuum or a new balance-of-power pattern among its successor states, and such outcomes may be strategically desirable for some countries. The following events illustrate this point. Britain sought the independence of the Low Countries, the Hapsburgs the fragmentation of Italy, and successive Chinese empires the disunity of the nomads in the Tarim Basin. A state may easily conclude that a power vacuum in a particular region is preferable to a rival power center. Given the threat the Soviet Union posed to the United States (and the threat its predecessor, the Romanov empire, posed to Great Britain) it is by no means clear that a consolidated entity on the territory of the Soviet Union is preferable to a balance-of-power system of rival successor states.
Even if the number of nation states were to increase by...