THE 18 MAIN TYPES OF NATIONALISM - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The main types of nationalism are oppression, irredentism, prestigious and cautious. Nationalism is a complex and multidimensional term that implies a shared communal identification with the nation. It is an ideology and socio-political movement, which places a nation as the only element of identity, based on the social, cultural and spatial condition of said nation.

Starting from the definition of "nation", whose Latin nascere means "place where one is born", nationalism appeals to community identity based on the culture, language, religion or belief of a common ancestor. However, it is much more complex than that.

Nationalism is based on two fundamental principles:

• First: The principle of national sovereignty, where the territory takes on outstanding value and is strongly defended.
• Second: the principle of nationality, which refers to the sense of belonging to a legal system, or the feeling of belonging to a social group, which not only shares common characteristics, but is also part of a State, whose borders coincide with those of the nation.

What is nationalism?

Nationalism regularly describes two phenomena: First, the attitude that the members of a nation have to defend their national identity. And secondly: the actions that the members of a nation take with the purpose of achieving or maintaining self-determination.

Is Nationalism a political trend, a social trend or a cultural trend? This must be a broad debate, considering that Nationalism, as such, can be approached from different perspectives, depending on the social scientific paradigm from which it is desired to study.

Thus, positivists could affirm that Nationalism is an observable, measurable social fact that is imposed on society, regardless of its members. Sympathetic sociologists might assert that Nationalism is not unique and that there have been as many types, as unique and unrepeatable moments, that have occurred throughout history.

And Marxists could say that the nation is nothing more than a bourgeois fraud devised to convince the proletariat to fight, alongside it, against foreign bourgeois who want to take away the market, so there is nothing to classify.

This just to mention some edges of the possible interpretations that, from some points of view, could be raised. Obviously, the classification systems of Nationalism meet the criteria of the paradigms from which they are approached.

Nationalism classes

We will mention some types of nationalism, based on some recognized academic sources.

Under no circumstances is it intended to assume that these authors have the best criteria; however they do provide interesting insights for those who wish to do so to investigate further this exciting topic.

We are going to obviate the paradigmatic complexity and base ourselves on the different concepts that, when investigating in different sources, can be found about Nationalism.

- According to Pfr. Handman

Classify nationalism into four divisions:

Oppression nationalism

Based on the imposition of nationalism by the state.

Irredentism

It refers to the aspiration of a people to complete and defend their territorial unity or the acquisition of new lands subject to foreign domination.

Cautious nationalism

Peoples adhere to their roots, customs, territory, being little receptive to new national paradigms. This with the intention of safeguarding the nation.

Prestigious nationalism

Entire nations share the fury of the victories or economies of their countries, prompting their citizens to an attachment to prestige.

- According to Pfr. Wirth

Constructed from a sociological perspective, it takes as a reference the model of Professor Handman, who classified nationalisms into four types, but builds his classification based on the manifestation of conflicts inherent in groups and provides examples throughout history. It thus distinguishes between:

Hegemonic nationalism

One in which one or several nations unite to obtain benefits of supremacy or dominance over others, regardless of whether they have common cultural or ethnic roots.

In turn, it is divided into Pan-nationalism (which claims a territory that normally goes beyond the original borders, based on an exacerbated idea of ​​nation).

Irredentism and imperialism

Irredentism claims a territory that according to its nationals belongs to it and that is occupied by another nation. Imperialism claims its sovereignty on behalf of the empire.

Particularistic nationalism

It is the tendency of a people, or nation, that makes it want to isolate itself from other peoples and merge into a great unity. It reinforces the demand for national autonomy.

Marginal nationalism

It is a type of European nationalism. It refers to a movement characterized by the defense of borders and populations, such as the Italo-Austrian border or the Swiss border.

Marginal population refers to national groups living in border areas, in which two states inevitably mix. The nationals of each nation regularly defend the territoriality of their nation.

Yet both parties share the 'benefit of the doubt' of land stewardship. There is a tendency for every nation to stick to and defend the traditions of its motherland.

Religion can be a breaking point or moderator between border towns. Hence Catholic Germans are found in southeast Tyrol, and Protestant Germans north of Schlewigs.

Minority nationalism

Groups of people with common beliefs or interests come together, form a unit based on their principles. It cannot necessarily be considered religious nationalism, since there are many other ideologies that may have the force to unify peoples and give it a territorial and sovereign legal order.

Unlike particularistic nationalism, these groups are considered minorities in their environment. The difference between Europe and America, in terms of this type of nationalism, comes from the relative recent immigration of minority groups to certain American areas, while Europe has generations and generations harboring different minorities in the same territory.

- According to the Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Classify nationalism into two large groups:

Classical nationalisms

The classic nationalisms are ethnic, civic and cultural. It refers to the pillars for understanding this profound subject, based on the essence of its meaning, and how it is translated into actions.

Broad nationalisms

The broad nationalisms are the interpretations and 'subdivisions', if you will, of the classic nationalisms, where new nuances and deep thought, or expanded, of the classics are found.

For example, religious and liberal nationalism, among others. New concepts incorporated into classic nationalisms, to give them a detailed application and that may involve some non-fundamental differences, with respect to classic nationalisms.

Ethnic nationalism

It is a type of nationalism in which the nation is determined in terms of an ethnic group. This foundation includes a culture shared between the members of a group with their ancestors.

Entire ethnic groups are segmented and self-determined. This self-determination gives them an autonomous character, separating them within the same society.

They claim a common homeland based on their ethnicity and defend their autonomy Ethnic nationalism defends the position of ethnic groups appeal to their legitimacy based on the "motherland" of said group.

Romantic nationalism

Some authors consider it a division of ethnic nationalism. It is also known as organic or identity nationalism. In this type of nationalism, it is the State that derives its political legitimacy as an organic expression and the expression of the nation or race.

This type of nationalism was the consequence of the reaction to the imperial dynasty, which evaluated the legitimacy of the State from the highest to the lowest levels, an authority that arises from a maximum president or monarch or other legitimate authority.

Civic nationalism

It is a type of nationalism based on a reality constructed by a group of human beings who share a place of birth. The legitimacy of this type of nationalism is given by the state.

The individual represents the popular or people's will. Unlike ethnic nationalism, civic nationalism proposes that adherence to it is voluntary on the part of individuals, who adhere to their civic-national ideals.

It is regularly associated with state nationalism, the term of which is often used to refer to conflicts between nationalisms. Combining this concept with ethnic nationalism, the raison d'être of individuals is to support state nationalism.

Cultural nationalism

Culture is the basic factor that unites the nation. The incorporation to this type of nationalism is not totally voluntary, if it is considered that acquiring a culture is part of being born and raised in a certain culture.

In cultural nationalism, parents do not automatically inherit this type of nationalism from their offspring, children. In fact, a child of a national, raised in another culture, can be considered "foreigner."

It cannot be considered as an ethnic or civic nationalism, particularly because it entails the adherence of the individual to a particular culture, not tacitly given by being born in a certain territory or imposed by the State.

There are some sources that cite authors, political philosophers, such as Ernest Renant and John Stuard Mill, who consider cultural nationalism as part of civic nationalism.

Religious nationalism

Considered by some thinkers as a particularism, religious nationalism applies the nationalist ideal to a particular religion, dogmas or affiliation.

This type of nationalism can be seen from two perspectives. First, shared religion is seen as a unifying entity in national unity.

Second, you can see the politicization of religion in a certain nation, accentuating the influence of religion on politics. Religious nationalism does not necessarily imply a tendency to fight other religions.

It can be seen as a response to secular, not religious, nationalism. It is dangerous when the state bases its political legitimacy, in its entirety, on religious doctrines, which can open doors to institutions or leaders that attract their followers to theological interpretations of the political realm.

Liberal nationalism

Modernity has brought with it new social concepts, such as liberal nationalism, which makes nationalism compatible with the liberal values ​​of freedom, equality, tolerance and the rights of individuals.

Some authors include liberal nationalism as synonyms for civic. Liberal nationalists give great importance to the State or Institutionality as the maximum referent of nationality. In its expanded version, it speaks of legal or institutional nationalism.

Economic nationalism

It bases its ideology on mechanisms of economic dependency. It maintains the position that the production sectors and the basic companies of the economy are in the hands of national capital, sometimes state capital, when the private sector is not in the capacity or conditions to supply the nation.

It is a type of nationalism that emerged in the 20th century, when some countries created state-owned companies in order to exploit strategic resources.

For example, the creation of the YPF (prolific fiscal deposits), an Argentine company that was dedicated to the exploitation, distillation, distribution and sale of oil and affiliated products, found in that country, in 1922.

Other outstanding examples: the nationalization of oil in Iran, in 1951, the nationalization of copper in Chile, in 1971.

References

1. Louis Wirth, "Types of Nationalism," American Journal of Sociology 41, no. 6 (May, 1936): 723-737.
2. "Two varieties of Nationalism: Original and Derived," in Association of History Teachers of the Middle States and Maryland, Proccedings, No. 26 (1928), pp 71-83.
3. Wikipedia “Types of Nationalism”.
4. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy "Nationalism".
5. Yael Tamir. 1993. Liberal nationalism. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07893-9; Will.
6. Kymlicka. 1995. multicultural citizenship. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-827949-3; David Miller. 1995. In nationality. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-828047-5.
7. Dr. Ortega y Gasset, May 13, 1932, speech in Session of the Cortes of the Republic.
8. Ernest Renant, 1882 "Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?"
9. John Stuard Mill, 1861 "Considerations on Representative Government".