-
Their 'national' identity is based on what? It helps how?
It seems so simple to me. Nationalism is a dog whistle for petty patriotism. The same people who believe it's useful are likely to believe that they are better in their village than people over the county line. It's useful for politicians to manipulate people.
Look at Jamaica in the run up to independence. How it was going to change Jamaica, massive surge of nationalistic pride followed by the deepest economic depression Jamaicans could have imagined. Many years of extreme poverty and gang violence based around political parties. The nationalism dissolved without helping anyone.
I'm not really interested in discussing it ad nauseam, it seems so clear to me that discounting it as a force for good makes sense.
Airhead-
Their 'national' identity is based on what?
A series of constructed dogmas and myths about the creation of their state and the ties that unite them as a people. Yes, by definition it’s exclusionary, but being proud of ones cultural group doesn’t necessarily mean looking down on those outside the group.
It helps how?
It unites people and facilitates getting them to cooperate with each other.
For one, Mexico point to point is larger than Edinburgh to Istanbul; it has 1 official language spoken by 99% of the country, but also 350 indigenous dialects, many ethnicities and social groups, nearly every climate... Arguably thanks to its forged national identity, today it’s a single nation state without serious internal conflict (ie, between regions. Crime is another topic...). There’s enormous inequality, but it’s had fewer internal wars than half of Europe over the same space and time. Edit to add: that didn’t just happen, nation identity helped.
Good food for thought ITT. Going to investigate what theories there are for pragmatically moving past nationalism and nation states.
Adhiero
Interesting. Can I ask how you’ve come to this conclusion? Larger nations like the US, Mexico and Brazil seem to rely on a shared national identity for their development, which is contrary to your theory. I’m interested in learning more about post-national options though.