Nationalism

Manuel Belgrano, one of the leaders of the independence of the American nations of the Spanish Empire, creator of the Argentine national flag.

Polish painting of 1892 exalting the defense of the flag during the historic battle of Chocim.

Nationalism is an ideology and sociopolitical movement that arose together with the modern concept of nation, typical of the Contemporary Age, in the historical circumstances of the so-called Era of Revolutions i> (Industrial Revolution, Bourgeois Revolution, Liberal Revolution) and the independence movements of the European colonies in America, from the end of the XVIIIth century. It can also designate the nationalist sentiment and the epoch of nationalism.

According to Ernest Gellner, "nationalism is a political principle that holds that there should be congruence between national and political unity" or, in other words, "nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy that prescribes that ethnic boundaries should not to oppose politicians". For her part, Liah Greenfeld defines the term "nationalism" in a general sense as the "set of ideas and feelings that make up the conceptual framework of national identity", the latter considered as the "fundamental identity » in the modern world compared to other identities in that «it is considered to define the very essence of the individual». For Ricardo Rojas, nationalism is the «awareness... of the collective self» of a nation».

In the collective work History, Geography and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of Chile, nationalism is defined as an "ideology that consists of the affirmation of a cultural identity generally linked to a territory, a language and a real or invented historical tradition, which, in most cases ends up exacerbating the superiority of one people or nation over others."

In the analysis of nationalism, two opposing and exclusive paradigms have been configured, each of which implies a certain conception of the nature and origin of the nation and a definition of it: the modernist or constructivist, which defines the nation as a human community that holds sovereignty over a certain territory, so that before the appearance of nationalisms in the Contemporary Age, nations would not have existed —the nation would be an "invention" of nationalisms—; and the perennialist or primordialist that defines the nation without taking into account the question of sovereignty and that defends, therefore, that nations existed before nationalisms, sinking their roots in remote times —so it would be the nation that creates nationalism and not the other way around.

In the same way, nationalism has given rise to two great ideological currents: the first one seeks to strengthen national self-determination before colonial, imperialist or neocolonial powers, a current that has been characterized as "liberating nationalism" by Rosa de Diego, or "anti-imperialist nationalism" by Rafael Cuevas Molina, while the second seeks to promote the supremacy of one nation over others, called by Memmi as "colonialist nationalism", and characterized by Rosa de Diego as "exclusive and dominating nationalism ».

Interpretations of nationalism

Nationalism is more oriented toward developing and maintaining a national identity based on shared characteristics such as culture, language, ethnicity, religion, political goals, or belief in a common ancestor. Therefore, nationalism seeks to preserve the national culture. It also often implies a feeling of pride in the nation's achievements, and is closely related to the concept of patriotism. In some cases, nationalism referred to the belief that a nation should be able to control the government and all means of production.

As an ideology, nationalism places a certain nation as the only identity referent, within a political community; and part of two basic principles regarding the relationship between the nation and the State:

• The principle of national sovereignty: which would maintain that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the State.
• The principle of nationality: which would maintain that each nation should form its own State, and that the borders of the State should coincide with those of the nation.

The term nationalism applies to both political doctrines and nationalist movements: the collective actions of social and political movements aimed at achieving nationalist claims. Historiography also uses the term nationalism to refer to the era of nationalism: the historical period of nation formation and the rise of nationalist ideology and movements, which occurred around the XIX, coinciding with the liberal revolutions or bourgeois revolutions. In the XX century, there was a renewal of nationalism, in the interwar period linked to fascism, and after the Second World War linked to the decolonization process and third worldism, when numerous groups called National Liberation Movement arose.

Nationalism could be understood as a concept of identity experienced collectively by members of a particular government, nation, society, or territory. Nationalists strive to create or sustain a nation based on various notions of political legitimacy. Many nationalist ideologies derive their development from the romantic theory of 'cultural identity', while others are based on the liberal argument that political legitimacy derives from the consensus of a region's population.

The first precedents of nationalism began to appear in the XVIII century, because until then, the idea of nation, as it is currently conceived, it had not been formulated. Until then, collective identities based on religion or on being subjects of the same king, prevailed over ethnic ones. In the French Revolution the term nation will be used as a synonym for citizen, that is, the nation is no longer personified in the figure of the monarch, since the nobility is a foreign body to the nation: the nation is the third state.

Certain theorists, such as Benedict Anderson, have asserted that the necessary conditions for nationalism include the development of the press and capitalism. Anderson also claims that the concepts of nation and nationalism are phenomena constructed within society, calling them imagined communities. Ernest Gellner adds to the concept: "nationalism is not the awakening of nations towards their own conscience: it invents nations where there are none".

On the other hand, there are historians such as the Spanish Pelai Pagès who warn of the polysemic nature of the concept of nationalism and the difficulty of finding a valid definition capable of encompassing the diversity of nationalist movements and ideologies. For example, Pagès points out, "historically there have been xenophobic and oppressive nationalisms and liberating nationalisms." However, Pagés recognizes that there are authors who affirm that there is a common base in all nationalisms, which would allow us to reach a definition of nationalism. This is the case of Hans Kohn for whom all nationalism "affirms that the nation-state is the only ideal legitimate form of political organization and that nationality is the source of all energy for cultural creation and economic well-being".

Nationalism and patriotism

In the 1830s, the term «nacionalismo» began to be used in Spanish, understood as a synonym for «patriotism», a term that had been widely used for some time. For example, Mariano José de Larra used the two terms as synonyms in 1835: «What is called in general the society is an [sic] amalgamation of a thousand companies placed in steps, which only touch each other at their respective borders, and which does not unite in a compact whole in each country but the bond of a common language, and of what is called among men patriotism or nationalism». But the use of the term «nationalism» was very limited during the XIX century, not only in Spanish but also in other Western languages such as French and English (in the catalog of the National Library of Spain there is no work published before 1900 that contains the word «nacionalismo» in its title, while in French (nationalisme) there are only 9, according to the catalog of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and 14 in English (nationalism), according to the catalog of the Library of Congress in Washington). In the XX century the term became general (between 1900 and 2000 in Spanish there are 385 cataloged works that contain the word «nacionalismo» in its title, 286 in French and 2485 in English) to take on a different meaning and largely contrary to liberalism's concept of "nation" (the nation of citizens), characteristic of the century XIX. Juan Francisco Fuentes points out that in the XX century the term «patriotism» «will almost always have a positive value, except for some nostalgic of the Old Regime and for the labor movement ―and not always―”, while “nationalism” will have a rather pejorative value, which would explain why many nationalists do not define themselves as such. This was the case of the leader of the Spanish Falange José Antonio Primo de Rivera when he stated: "We are not nationalists, because nationalism is the individualism of the people... We are Spanish."

Throughout the XX century several authors have differentiated between nationalism and patriotism giving the first term a negative value and the second a positive value. This was the position, for example, of the British writer George Orwell who wrote in 1945, just after the Second World War: “nationalism should not be confused with patriotism. I understand by patriotism the devotion for a certain place and for a particular way of life... that does not want to be imposed...; conversely, nationalism is inseparable from the ambition for power. A year earlier, in 1928, the Spanish historian Rafael Altamira, after stating that his work had for years had "a marked patriotic sense" ("I want to say that I have frequently studied and exposed topics referring to the vindications of our history and our current values, to the spiritual problem of our unity and to the education necessary to form Spanish citizens"), he said that being a patriot did not mean being a nationalist, "nor in the aggressiveness of this policy, as far as relations are concerned international, nor in its retrograde inclination regarding the identity and way of life of a given nation".

However, the Spanish historian Xosé M. Núñez Seixas considers them practically synonymous «if we define nationalism as the ideology and sociopolitical movement that defends and assumes that a defined territorial collective is a nation, and therefore depositary of collective political rights that make it a subject of sovereignty, regardless of the criteria (civic, ethnic or a mixture of both) that define who are the full members of that group”. According to Núñez Seixas, the pejorative consideration of nationalism that leads to differentiating it from patriotism and that causes many nationalists to avoid considering themselves as such comes from the identification of nationalism i> "with exaltation of the organic-historicist, ethnicist and essentialist conception of the political community against the civic concept of the nation of citizens".

Evolution of nationalism

According to Anthony D. Smith, “In its early days, nationalism was an inclusive and liberating force. It ended local regionalisms based on dialect, custom or clan and helped create powerful and extensive nation-states, with centralized markets and administrative, tax and educational systems. He appealed to the popular and democratic. It attacked feudal practices and oppressive imperialist tyrannies and proclaimed the sovereignty of the people and the right of all peoples to determine their own destinies, in states of their own, whenever this was what they wanted."

In Asia, by the end of the 19th century nationalist ideas had begun to spread. In India, nationalism encouraged the end of British rule. In China, nationalism justified the Chinese state, which was at odds with the idea of a universal empire. In Japan, nationalism was combined with Japanese exceptionalism.

World War I marked the ultimate destruction of several multinational states (the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and to some extent the Russian Empire). The Treaty of Versailles was established as an attempt to recognize the principle of nationality, as much of Europe was divided into nation-states in an attempt to keep the peace. But in this interwar period “the ominous shadow of those types of nationalism that were based on racial criteria (the skull, blood, genes), violence and the cult of brutality fell: the cradle of fascism. In the convulsions that followed, first in Europe and then around the world, the rampant red line of nationalism merged with the darker forces of racism, fascism and anti-Semitism...".

The 20th century was marked by the slow adoption of nationalism around the world with the destruction of European colonial empires, the Soviet Union, and several other minor multinational states. Simultaneously, particularly in the second half of the century, strong anti-nationalist tendencies have taken place, the elite-run ones being generally notable. The current European Union is currently transferring power from the national level to local and continental entities. Trade agreements, such as NAFTA and GATT, and the growing internationalization of production also weaken the sovereignty of the nation-state.

Forms of nationalism

Centripetal (or integrative) nationalism

It is the one that seeks the national unification of populations with common characteristics that live in different States, where they can be national minorities and therefore in those States they constitute centrifugal nationalisms (this is the case of Kurdish nationalism), or be nationally homogeneous but separate states (this is the case of the unification of Italy and Germany in the XIX century)., although in both cases the overlap with the Austro-Hungarian Empire complicates the definition). In Latin America, there is the case of Ibero-American nationalism, proposed by historical figures such as Simón Bolívar, Francisco de Miranda, José de San Martín, José Miguel Carrera, Joaquín Edwards Bello, Manuel Baldomero Ugarte and Jorge Abelardo Ramos, which historically opposes the disintegration of the Patria Grande and pleads for its reunification, among other points.

Centrifugal (or Disintegrative) Nationalism

It is the one that seeks the secession of a part of the territory of a State inhabited by a population with different characteristics of the ethnic group considered the majority. The differentiated group can be defined as a national minority. These cases occur in States that are characterized by being considered "multinationals".

Third-generation nationalism

They are centrifugal nationalisms, in the same way as second generation nationalisms, which emerged at the end of the s. XX and beginnings of the XXI and that are subordinated to another State. They are communities with nationalist claims, or regions, historical nations or nations themselves (depending on the areas, their history or different points of view) that are still not constituted in a State and continue to claim it. In Chile, this centrifugal expression is expressed in the creation of a State for the "Mapuche Nation" supported by various minority sectors.

Economic nationalism

It focuses on the mechanisms of economic dependency or neocolonialism. He maintains the need for basic sectors and companies of the economy to remain in the hands of national capital, often state capital, when the private sector is not in a position.

The origins of economic nationalism can be found in the creation of state companies to exploit strategic products such as the creation of YPF for oil in Argentina in 1922 and later in the nationalization policies implemented by large numbers of countries among which stand out: the nationalization of oil in Mexico in 1938, the nationalization of oil in Iran in 1951, the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 and the nationalization of copper in Chile in 1971.

Economic nationalism is also closely related to the Dependency Theory elaborated by the Latin American developmentalist school, which maintains that the world economic system has established an international division of labor that attributes industrial production, with high added value, to the central countries., and to the peripheral countries the production of raw materials, with low added value. Developmentalism maintains that there is a general tendency for the terms of trade to deteriorate to the detriment of primary agricultural production, and that peripheral countries need to promote aggressive industrial policies to break the vicious circle of underdevelopment.

The privatization policy suggested by the Washington Consensus from the 1990s had as its main objective, and largely succeeded, reversing the nationalist measures taken by most of the peripheral countries during most of the XX century.

Since the late 1990s there seems to have been a significant resurgence of economic nationalism in various parts of the world, in a global environment, related to regional integration agreements. One of its most important manifestations has been the nationalization of hydrocarbons in Bolivia in 2006, under the government of Evo Morales and the infrastructure and subregional development agreements made within the framework of Mercosur and the South American Community of Nations.

Many of these nationalist experiences are closely related to union demands and other social organizations, taking the form of popular nationalism expressed in political movements with broad support from the population.

Civic (or liberal) nationalism

Liberal nationalism, also known as civil nationalism, is a type of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe that there can be a non-xenophobic form of nationalism, compatible with liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality and individual rights. Ernest Renan and John Stuart Mill are often regarded as early liberal nationalists.

It is a form of nationalism in which the state derives political legitimacy from the active participation of its citizenry (see popular sovereignty), from the degree to which it represents the "general will". It is often considered to have originated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and especially the social contract theories that take their name from his 1762 book Du Contrat Social (The Social Contract). It is a "voluntarist" notion that is also shared by the approaches of Giuseppe Mazzini, considering that the nation arises from the will of individuals.

Liberal nationalism is found in the traditions of rationalism and liberalism, but as a form of nationalism it is contrasted with ethnic nationalism. Affiliation with the civil nation is considered voluntary, as in Ernest Renan's classic definition of the nation as a "daily plebiscite" characterized by the "will to live together". Civil-national ideals influenced the development of representative democracy in countries like the United States and France.

The liberal vision of national identity, especially in the 19th century and with the development of national states, saw to the State or the institutionality as the maximum referent of nationality (sometimes having both concepts as synonyms), resulting in a legal or constitutional nationalism, according to the approaches of Dolf Sternberger and Jürgen Habermas, giving rise to a notion that is directly related to the political tradition of republicanism and, like it, requires a participatory conception of citizenship, focused on promoting the common good. For this reason, the citizenship that endorses constitutional patriotism does not refer in the first instance to a common history or ethnic origin, but is defined by adherence to common values of a democratic nature embodied in the Constitution, that is, under a legal order expressed in the rule of law.

Ethnic (or cultural) nationalism

"Nationalism kills" in Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian is a recognizable slogan UDIK against nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.

Defines the nation in terms of ethnicity, which always includes some elements descended from previous generations. It also includes ideas of a cultural connection between members of the nation and their ancestors, and often a common language. Nationality is hereditary. The state derives political legitimacy from its status as the home of the ethnic group, and from its function of protecting the national group and facilitating a social and cultural life for the group. Ideas about ethnicity are very old, but ethnic nationalism Modernism is heavily influenced by Johann Gottfried von Herder, who pioneered the Volk concept, and Johann Gottlieb Fichte.

Fascism is generally classified as ethnic nationalism, its most extreme being the national socialism of Nazi Germany. However, most of the fascist movements and regimes in Europe between the wars, including the National-Catholicism of Spanish Francoism, respond more to the model of clerical fascism defined by Hugh Trevor-Roper.

Anthony D. Smith has argued that there is no clear link between ethnic nationalism and economic factors.

Romantic nationalism

Also called organic nationalism and identity nationalism, it is the form of ethnic nationalism according to which the state derives its political legitimacy as a natural consequence (organic) and expression of nation or race. It reflects the ideals of romanticism and opposes rationalism and enlightened cosmopolitanism, postulating the existence of a way of feeling and conceiving nature, life and man himself (and his existence) that is presented in a different and particular way in each country. where it develops (even within the same nation, different tendencies are manifested, projecting themselves also in all the arts) added to a cult of the national character or Volksgeist or spirit of the people (from which a sensitivity and a creative genius are born that identify it), highlighting this expression in the ethnic qualities of the peoples.

Early romantic nationalism in Europe was strongly influenced by Rousseau and by the ideas of Johann Gottfried von Herder, who in 1784 argued that geography formed the natural economy of a people, and that their customs and society would develop along the lines favored by their environment.

Romantic nationalism emphasizes a historical ethnic culture that connects with the romantic ideal; folklore develops as a romantic nationalist concept. The Brothers Grimm drew inspiration from Herder's writings to create an idealized collection of ethnically German stories. The historian Jules Michelet exemplifies the romantic nationalist conception of historiography. In 1815 there was talk of this nationalism, and it was the one used for both German and Italian unification.

Within romanticism, an "organic" conception is recognized, represented by Herder and Fichte ("Addresses to the German Nation", 1808) that identifies the nation with traits that are inherit (language, culture, territory, traditions) and that are above individual desire.

Left or popular nationalism

Left nationalism, (also called "popular nationalism" by those who are reluctant to frame themselves on the "left-right" plane, or by contrast to the term " oligarchic nationalism") is a form of nationalism based on social justice, popular sovereignty, economic nationalism and national self-determination (understood as national political sovereignty). Left nationalism brings together various currents that had a common base of nationalism, with a progressive, reformist or revolutionary orientation (in some cases it was expressed in an authoritarian manner or under military regimes). Due to his attachment to the notion of the general interest of the nation or the popular community, he is often associated with socialist ideals, which is why some political expressions are often considered "social nationalism" or "national socialism".

It usually has a strong component of economic nationalism, in view of which it occurs mostly in economically dependent or underdeveloped countries, which seek to develop through state intervention, and put the economy at the service of national interests considered strategic. It also tends to have a social component, since it understands that the nation is not separated from the people that inhabit it, and that a strong and developed nation can only be achieved through social justice (being supporters of welfare or social states), since otherwise said nation would plunge into chaos and permanent conflict as a result of injustice and social imbalance. It is also usually linked to corporatism, but unlike fascism, this corporatist doctrine seeks the political integration of unions and other intermediate entities within the State (some sectors seek the total replacement of liberal democracy, political parties and parliament, leaving unions only), as well as the integration and economic participation of the workers in the management, ownership and benefits of the national company (through the unions) together with the employers (having the State as regulator of relations). labor and production), thus showing their opposition to the class struggle (some governments declared themselves anti-communist). Sometimes, popular nationalism tends to put emphasis within its doctrines on secularism (in some cases with atheism) and environmentalism.

Other strands of left-wing nationalism emphasize the rebellion of a nation against another nation that oppresses it (be it politically, militarily, or economically), and thus all national liberation movements can be classified as left-wing nationalists, anti-imperialists or anti-colonials who fight for the independence of their nations.

The clearest examples of popular nationalism are found in Third World countries (deriving into Third Worldism as an expression of struggle against oppression both in the First World and in the already fallen Second World). Some clear examples are found in Latin America such as Peronism in Argentina, Varguismo in Brazil, Cardenismo in Mexico, Ibañismo in Chile, Chavismo in Venezuela, etc. In the Middle East, the case of Nasserism in Egypt and the Baath in Syria and Iraq is well known.

Any left-wing regime (for example, in communist governments) that emphasizes patriotism and the exaltation of national values or traditions (taking in some cases a more conservative position) can also be understood as left-wing nationalism. in this regard, especially in the face of phenomena such as globalization).

Religious nationalism

It is the form of nationalism according to which the State derives its political legitimacy as a consequence of a common religion. However, many forms of ethnic nationalism are also to a large extent forms of religious nationalism. For example, Irish nationalism is generally associated with Catholicism; Indian nationalism is associated with Hinduism, etc. Religious nationalism is generally considered to be a form of ethnic nationalism.

In some cases, however, the religious component is more of a label than the true motivation of a group's nationalism. For example, although most of the Irish nationalist leaders of the last century were Catholic, during the 19th century, and especially in the XVIII, many nationalist leaders were Protestants. Irish nationalists do not fight for theological distinctions, but for an ideology that identifies the island of Ireland with a particular vision of Irish culture, which for many nationalists includes Catholicism, although not as a predominant element. For many nations that were forced to fight against the consequences of another nation's imperialism, nationalism was associated with the search for an ideal of freedom.

Catholic nationalism is a Catholic nationalist doctrine and political movement founded on Thomistic philosophy, the Social Doctrine of the Church, and social Catholicism.

Islam is strongly opposed to any kind of nationalism, tribalism, racism or any other classification of people not based on one's own beliefs. However, certain Islamic groups can be considered racist and nationalist. The creation of Pakistan is an example of Islamic-based religious nationalism insofar as it took Muslims from India as a nation. However, many of its creators were secular and considered belonging to the same religious tradition as an element that generated identity apart from the religious practice itself. A similar example is that of the Bosnian Muslims, considered an ethnic group in the former Yugoslavia and who were mostly non-believers or non-practicing.

Some authors have also pointed out that nationalism is more a political religion than a political ideology, a substitute for religion.

Banal nationalism

Montorgueil StreetClaude Monet. The celebration of national holidays is one of the ways in which States foster the feeling of national ownership among their citizens.

According to Michael Billig, it is the diffuse form that nationalism would take in contemporary societies, becoming an omnipresent mechanism to guide perceptions and make the identification between a language, a culture and a political community appear as natural. Whether in collective rituals such as sports, or in minor details such as the use of flags to identify the languages in which the ingredients of a cereal box are written, banal nationalism would daily reproduce the mental schemes of nationalism.

Common elements of all forms of nationalism

Some political theorists argue that any discrimination of forms of nationalism is false. All forms of nationalism feature a population forming a nation, which means that all members of a population believe in some kind of common culture.

Causes

Nationalism has maintained its appeal through the centuries, emphasizing the fact that belonging to a culturally, economically or politically strong nation gives a person a sense of belonging.

Another possibility defends that people are social beings; Being part of a sociopolitical group like the nation is advantageous and contributes to its development. It is considered to be the expression of a general feature of evolutionarily favored social behaviour, related to tribalism.

Sometimes nationalist sentiment can arise when members of a community feel threatened or attacked by another community, state or religion. It can arise as a response to another nationalism or to imperialism.

Forms of action

Depending on the context where nationalism takes place, it can take various forms of action that can be peaceful, violent or can combine both.

Peaceful

With the progressive consolidation of more democratic States and the advance of intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, nationalist claims are substantiated mainly through the exercise of political activity through different nationalist political parties that claim with the electoral support of the citizens greater autonomy, independence or the exercise of the right of self-determination of their territories.

Another form of peaceful demand would be civil disobedience or "Active non-violence" whose maximum exponent was the work of Mahatma Gandhi in India.

Violent

The occupation of the territory and the imposition of a certain nationality and culture on other people and peoples through the use of force is one of the means used by nationalism. In the 20th century, the two world wars are an example in which the national element played a substantial role, although the expansion military and dissemination of a national identity is a recurring element in the history of nationalisms.

Criticism of nationalism

Nationalism has been the object of numerous criticisms by scholars from different areas of knowledge. Arthur Schopenhauer is credited with the quote "Every execrable imbecile, who has nothing in the world of which he can be proud, takes refuge in this last resort, to boast of the nation to which he happens to belong."

Francisco J. Contreras thinks that this ideology is philosophically weak and rudimentary; he criticizes that sovereign political entities must correspond to national groups and believes that nationalism is incapable of offering a rigorous definition of national identity; According to this author, national identities are not given by the historical-social reality, but are built by nationalist ideology and the States.

Alfredo Cruz Prados affirms that "the nation itself is an entity created ideologically by him, and not something natural, objective and prior to nationalism itself, as this ideology affirms". Pedro Gómez García in his article "Ethnic identity, nationalist mania and multiculturalism as racist outbreaks and threats against humanity" maintains that nationalism is a pathological tendency that leads us towards the balkanization of the planet and hinders the emergence of a pluralistic and integrated world society.

Luis Rodríguez Abascal, referring to culturalist nationalism, has said that «it does not defend cultural diversity, but rather proposes a normative model of culture that homogenizes pre-existing cultural practices. It has difficulty doing otherwise because its starting point is always an abstract concept of culture, which conceives of it as a uniform or homogeneous unit and ideally extends it across a territory without regard to what the underlying everyday cultural practices are. or without granting them moral and political relevance".

In reference to nationalism, the writer Jorge Luis Borges stated:

In this sense, [nationalism] is the main channel of all evils. It divides people, destroys the good side of human nature, leads to inequality in the distribution of wealth.

Theorists of nationalism

Historical nationalism

Historical events in which nationalism played an essential role:

• United States Independence (1776)
• French Revolution (1789)
• Bois Caïman, the first and largest insurrection of slaves of the Haitian Revolution (1791)
• Independence of Haiti (1804)
• Haiti Approves First Constitution in Latin America (1805)
• War of Spanish Independence (1808)
• Hispanic American Independence War (1809-1824)
• Italian unification under the domain of Piedmont and Sardinia
• Hungarian Revolution of 1848
• Defense of Paysandú (1864-1865)
• Franco-Prussian war and German unification under the rule of Prussia
• Pacific War (1879-1884)
• Rebellion Maji Maji (1905–1907)
• Finnish Nationalism and the Independence of Finland (1917)
• First World War
• Mexican Revolution (1910-1917)
• The Kingdom of Hungary Foundation (1920-1945) by Miklós Horthy
• Sandino's resistance to Nicaragua's U.S. occupation (1927-1933)
• Spanish Civil War
• Second World War
• Peruvian-Ecuadorian War
• First Vienna Arbitration (1938)
• Second Vienna Arbitration (1940)
• Independence of India (1942-1947)
• Peronist government in Argentina (1946-1955)
• Revolution of 1952 (Bolivia)
• Bolivian national liberation struggle 1952-1964
• The Ten Years of Spring in Guatemala (1944-1954)
• Government of Venezuela (1952-1958)
• The Nasserist Government in Egypt (1955-1970)
• Hungarian Revolution of 1956
• Cuban Revolution (1959)
• Indochina War (1945-1954) and Vietnam War (1958-1973)
• Spring Prague (1968)
• El Salvador (2019)

Nationalist movements

Africa

America

Asian

Europe

Oceania