Is Nationalism the Cure-all?

I’ve always been a fervent nationalist. It always made the most sense to me, somewhat paradoxically living in the multicultural US and Canada, that the most effective division of society would be on nationalistic grounds. Of course I recognized that there would be problems – looking at some Israelis’ treatment of Ethiopian Jews, or the division in Italy between North Italians and Sicilians, I was aware that the question of nationality and how it would be defined would always be contentious. But overall, I thought it was the simplest means to splitting the world into governable bits.

I no doubt was heavily influenced by my own heritage in this way of thinking. Ethnically Norwegian, I have heard how time and time again the Norwegian nation was first subdued by the Danes, and then, in a sudden transfer of power that involved no Norwegian voices, taken over by the Swedes, who ruled Norway despite a hostile reception for 91 years.

It was due to these nationalist leanings that I applied to work for the Scottish National Party five years ago. Reading about the Scots’ “plight,” I honestly believed that Scotland, its heritage, and its language were on the brink of being lost, and only Scottish independence could adequately prevent this from happening.

Then, I actually went to work for them in Westminster. I was struck by their utter inability to look beyond the moment when independence might actually be granted, to decide how the country would be run. The party drew supporters and potential SNP representatives from all ends of the political spectrum, from left to right, their hatred of England the United Kingdom being the sole unifying point. I saw how empty their policies could be, and I began to seriously question whether nationalism really was a solid starting point for self-governance, as I had once believed, or if it just caused a whole lot of trouble in otherwise stable societies.

And then I moved to Montreal, where I was surrounded, day-in and day-out by sovereigntists and anti-sovereigntists, who could not let the issue of Quebec nationhood be forgotten for even a second. I TA’d a political science course entitled “Nations and States,” and found myself, rather surprisingly, on the other side of the argument, understanding for the first time that Woodrow Wilson’s grand philosophy probably laid the groundwork for the bloodiest conflicts that this century, and the last, have ever seen.

And so I approach the new Kosovar state with much scepticism. While no one could argue that their subjection to Serb rule was justifiable or should be continued, I am not convinced that a nationalist solution was the best solution. I’m sure Serbs in Mitrovica could tell you the same thing. But the verdict’s still out on the viability of this nation as an independent nation-state, so I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.