Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Good And Bad Nationalism

Paul Collier 10th March 2015 7 Comments

Paul Collier

Paul Collier

Nationalism has come to be associated with attempts by majority ethnic groups to exclude and persecute minorities. Not only is this detestable, it is quite clearly an abuse of the term: an attempt to appropriate for one component of a society, a designation which by definition must include the whole. In effect, exclusionary nationalism asserts ‘we constitute the nation, so you are not part of it’.

While the response of the left has been understandable, in condemning nationalism, it has inadvertently ceded what is potentially the most potent means of building social cohesion. Without a sense of shared identity a modern society would struggle to maintain the levels of cooperation and generosity that have made Europe so remarkable. In a democracy, that shared identity cannot be political: the essence of democracy is division between opposing groups. It cannot be religious: a modern society will encompass those with an infinite variety of beliefs. If it is as vague as ‘shared values’ it will have little traction: are the values of the typical Dane much different from those of the typical Canadian or Australian? Yet if Danes were asked to provide fiscal assistance to Australians I doubt they would be remotely as generous as they are to fellow Danes.

It is shared national identity, not shared values, that predisposes people to generosity and cooperation. If shared identity is to be sustained in Europe, let alone built in the many societies that currently suffer from the lack of it, there is little alternative: all the people living in Denmark need to share a common pride in being Danish. This is inclusive nationalism: it has been promoted, with great success, in Scotland by the Scottish Nationalist Party. It is, indeed, the only realistic basis for a sense of shared identity available to all the people living in a country. In denigrating nationalism per se, as opposed to its misappropriation, the left has thrown away something that is vital to its goals.

Inclusive nationalism is admittedly incompatible with the ideal of a common global humanity. This is the benchmark of both technocratic utilitarian universalism and the romantic end of European youth. I do not wish to denigrate this ambition: a sense of common global humanity is what I have spent my life working for – what else was The Bottom Billion but such an appeal? But it is nothing more than a distant ambition: Utilitarian universalists are about as rare as Quakers.

Is nationalism always bad? Paul Collier argues that (photo: CC BY 2.0 - Geraint Rowland)

Is nationalism always bad? Paul Collier argues that ‘inclusive nationalism’ could be a strategy for the political centre. (photo: CC BY 2.0 – Geraint Rowland)

Currently, the realistic alternative to inclusive nationalism is not a common global humanity. Without inclusive nationalism, two forms of identity are likely to predominate. Some societies will develop the viral, exclusionary, form of nationalism. This is the prospect feared by the European establishment. In other societies identities will become more individualized. These societies will come to consist of alienated atomized libertarians who disparage government. Such societies, privileging individual rights over shared responsibilities, will also be unattractive. Inclusive nationalism would not be perfect: it would not persuade Germans to be generous to Greeks. But it would be better than either of these scenarios. It could persuade the Greeks to be more generous to each other, which would be a considerable improvement.

While inclusive nationalism is a realistic and attractive strategy within Europe, it is far more important for the fragile post-conflict societies which have become an acute global problem. In the 1990s, drunk on triumphalism, the USA radically oversold multiparty elections as the universal solution to governance. Trapped by its own rhetoric, it has stuck with a losing formula: Iraq, Afghanistan, DRC, Myanmar, Egypt, Ukraine, CAR, whatever the context, elections have been the precondition for international legitimacy. In doing so, America misunderstood its own success.

Quite evidently, its own electoral competition has not been particularly conducive to good governance: in some respects it is an embarrassment. The true American genius has been to forge a shared identity among a population of exceptional variety: in other words, it has built inclusive nationalism. American insistence upon multiparty competition regardless of context has had the inadvertent consequence that societies which lacked a sense of shared identity have been unable to build one. Parties inevitably organized along the lines of identities and their rhetoric of abuse reinforced these identities. Inclusive nationalism needs different political institutions. The great national-builders, such as Nyerere in Tanzania, Sukarno in Indonesia, and Lee in Singapore, relied instead upon inclusive national parties.

Inclusive nationalism is a political agenda that neither the left nor the right is capable of espousing. The left lacks the will to nationalism; the right lacks the will to inclusion. But it is an ideal agenda for the political centre.

Paul Collier

Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. His latest book is 'Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century' published by Penguin and Oxford University Press.

Home ・ Politics ・ Good And Bad Nationalism

Most Popular Posts

schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza
Russia,Putin,assets,oligarchs Seizing the assets of Russian oligarchsBranko Milanovic
Russians,support,war,Ukraine Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine?Svetlana Erpyleva

Most Recent Posts

Sakharov,nuclear,Khrushchev Unhappy birthday, Andrei SakharovNina L Khrushcheva
Gazprom,Putin,Nordstream,Putin,Schröder How the public loses out when politicians cash inKatharina Pistor
defence,europe,spending Ukraine and Europe’s defence spendingValerio Alfonso Bruno and Adriano Cozzolino
North Atlantic Treaty Organization,NATO,Ukraine The Ukraine war and NATO’s renewed credibilityPaul Rogers
transnational list,European constituency,European elections,European public sphere A European constituency for a European public sphereDomènec Ruiz Devesa

Other Social Europe Publications

The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Bilan social / Social policy in the EU: state of play 2021 and perspectives

The new edition of the Bilan social 2021, co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), reveals that while EU social policy-making took a blow in 2020, 2021 was guided by the re-emerging social aspirations of the European Commission and the launch of several important initiatives. Against the background of Covid-19, climate change and the debate on the future of Europe, the French presidency of the Council of the EU and the von der Leyen commission must now be closely scrutinised by EU citizens and social stakeholders.


AVAILABLE HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Living and working in Europe 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a defining force in 2021, and Eurofound continued its work of examining and recording the many and diverse impacts across the EU. Living and working in Europe 2021 provides a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe. It also summarises the agency’s findings on issues such as gender equality in employment, wealth inequality and labour shortages. These will have a significant bearing on recovery from the pandemic, resilience in the face of the war in Ukraine and a successful transition to a green and digital future.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube