Nationalism

Abstract

The tragedies of the twentieth century are in many respects a reflection of humanity's entering a new civilization with an ideological arsenal largely stocked with ideas that emerged under feudalism. Given their period of origin, these ideas have clearly become obsolete under the new historical conditions. This is especially true of the ideology of ethnic nationalism, with its innately tribal worldview and its conferral of absolute sovereignty on the nation-state. We all know how attempts to resolve world problems from the standpoint of ethnic nationalism ended in the 1914–45 period. The devastation wrought by two world wars fully demonstrated the inappropriate nature of ethnic nationalism as an ideology, proving that further alienation of peoples would be suicidal.¹