Nationalism is important for nations that do not have the characters of a nation state. Without nationalism, there is little wool to knit a powerful bond among countrymen. The US has had a bloody history of secession attempts that resulted in the American civil war. Since then, the attempts to engineer nationalism has never stopped. However, Americans would often identify themselves as African-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, New Yorkers and Californians etc. Thus, all mass communication media in the US has to constantly remind itself that it’s America.
In India, although national media is hush-hush about the separatist movements that plague the country it is a problem for them. The divisive undercurrent of the North vs the South vs the East is one of the major issues. Take Andhra-Pradesh for example: there is a movement to divide it into two parts - Telegu speaking Telengana and the pathans of Andrha. Punjab and Haryana have been divided, so has been Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Gujrat, Bihar and Jharkhand.
In these two countries there is little sense of belonging to “one nation” among the people as both of them are truly magnanimous, multinational and multicultural. India and the US deal with these problems through Federalism. Autonomy is allowed to the people – they can govern themselves and the state takes the role of an overseer, arbiter and protector. Problem partially solved.
Now, consider this: in the 2010 general elections in the United Kingdom, Labour won 41 of the 59 seats in contest, Liberal Democrats won 11. The Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron is the leader of the Conservative party. The Scottish are basically ruled by a party that does not have an existence within its borders. Scotland have seriously considered exiting the union many times – when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash, there was talk of exiting the union. It’s common knowledge that the Scottish and the Irish don’t historically look in the eyes of the English, and Ireland has already left the union. In the Hay Festival at Dhaka, an Englishman was pessimistic that in the next 25-50 years, Scotland too may leave.
Across Europe, Montenegro separated from Serbia. Serbia was created breaking SFR Yugoslavia into seven pieces. The USSR split up in the last two decades of the last century. The differences among people of Italy and Spain have been completely left out here. All this leads to one “hypothesis” - without proper nationalism, states live on a knife edge, ready to be carved apart.
Towards the Far East, Iraq is divided into Kurdis, Sunni and Shi’ite regional conflicts. As is Iran broiled in a major albeit suppressed Shia-Sunni battle. Before the Taliban arrived, Afghanistan was ungovernable due to the sectarianism prevalent there. In Pakistan too, there is concern about Punjab and Balochistan separating to form separate states. The sruggle in Kashmir is also well known. In Africa, Sudan has recently been divided into south and north Sudan. The political scenario in Africa still remains turbulent, entangled in bloody conflicts.
There is a possibility that the political scenario of the world will change drastically in the next century. Many small, homogenous nation states may rise and the bigger states may fall. Natural borders may be erected, erasing the artificial borders that have risen at the dusk of the colonial and socialist era.
Smaller states are an administrative utopia – less area to manage, small, homogenous population to satisfy and govern. However, concise area and populous states will face a different problem: sovereignty. The states will be susceptible to influence from stronger neighbour states, in muscle and in wealth.
The potential, almost natural solution to the above predicament lies in Europe. Europe has opened its borders to tackle economic problems – recession and an ageing workforce. Step forward the Euro and the Schengen Agreement. Twenty years later, we have a fully functional European Parliament, the wealthiest economy of the world and largely a success story apart from the recent recession in Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
In the near future, we may see the formation of many such associations. At the very least, existing organisations like the OIC, Asean, Saarc may grow in strength and influence. In Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan, the wheels are already set in motion. The African Union is already functional and growing in importance. In South America, the USAN and Lafta are in place. Regional integration is being highly sought after and the world may even give rise to more military co-operation treaties like the Nato. Also, with the largest economic and political powerhouses like the US and China constantly competing for the foothold in the global scene, these regional integration would also serve as natural, necessary developments to counter the stranglehold.
At the same time, countries like Germany, East and West, have been reunified, with outstanding success. The largest economy in Europe is achieving growth even in this dire economic scenario. The common ground, again, is nationalism. Perhaps, this is why divide and rule is still a viable strategy. Take Australia for example – there, the aboriginals are usually allowed to roam and live anywhere in the country. They also enjoy a certain amount of impunity from law. All this is to keep them happy, content and away from congregating and forming political alliances. Bangladesh too has been active in oppressing the adivasis along the hill tracts.
There is chance that Punjab, divided between India and Pakistan may one day reunite. The Bengali speaking, rice eating people of West Bengal and the neighbouring states on the eastern border of Bangladesh may one day want to form one state. It is natural and quite probable. This could be one of the reasons India is very aggressive and uncompromising while dealing with matters regarding Bangladesh.
One thing is certain, the international borders have not seen anything close to long-term settlements. The world may be in line for a political neo-continental drift. Hopefully, the avenues pursued and countermeasures taken for these winds of change the world over will be more diplomatic and less military.
