Nation's Government And Economy example essay topic

It has been said that all philosophy stems from Plato, the same extrapolation can hold true for the majority of Greek contributions. Aristotle created the system of classification and began a vicious, yet useful cycle of categorizing the environment, our selves and fellow human beings included. This tendency of dividing and sub-dividing has morphed into racial, religious, and regional identification. The innate need to identify with a group is an integral part of societal life. Furthermore, the concept of classification and its's ub sequent popularity results in private, public, and even global labeling. Terminology such as first and third world nation implies a grand scale of status and power.

These international definitions have a significant effect on national morale. Nationalism is an idea intrinsically bound by the magnetic pull between economics, politics, society and culture. The echoes of nationalism are not only heard on the battlefield, but they resonate through the opera hall, the stadium, and in the stock market pit. It is a feeling and a concept that has infiltrated each man's awareness since the term was coined during the Enlightenment.

A basic fact that spurred the popularity of representative government went hand in hand with nationalism: people are power. Regardless, of the political format any ruler will admit that citizens contain clout in masses. A sense of unity instilled in the public can be perilous or profitable depending upon the circumstance. The nature of nationalism is consistently in flux and has proved to have dynamic effects on countries and governments.

The power of nationalism has manifested itself in three imperative physical political actions: Independence movements, external wars, and internal revolutions. The diplomatic genius Otto Bismarck was able to harness this power in order to unify Germany as a state and later to augment support of the Franco-Prussian war and his numerous colonization attempts. At this time nationalism was fairly young in its' existence and was fervently infecting peoples of sundry descents to rally behind one country. Independent of popular support government cannot successfully achieve any of its' goals. The clich'e stands true -- 'majority rules'. In the case of European unification movements in the 18th and 19th centuries it was necessary to use common ground such as language, skin color, and heritage to override the distinctions in culture from one tribe or village to another.

The direct relationship between people and power implied that the greater the number of individuals who could be symbolized by one banner, the greater the state's potential for hegemony. The attainment of military hegemony through sheer numbers, prior to the Industrial revolution's late impact on the war industry, enabled one nation to assert its domination over a multitude of peoples. The carved continent of Africa was a victim of the former. However, economic prowess determined the distribution of wealth and land between European nations at the Congress of Vienna. Nationalism has been a vital tool in the creation of nation-states, the ability to coerce a people into war, and in projecting an image of strength to other nations. In the game of international politics, the constant grapple for power between strong and weak states is inevitable.

The sultan of Saudi Arabia is the richest man on earth, yet his nation is not even ranked in the G-5. Wealth is clearly a factor of a state's strength but it does not engulf all the attributes necessary to be a power player. Economic, political, and social stability all contribute to the influence accumulated by one nation. If a nation is consistently in the throws of one revolution or another, such as the Slavic nations of Eastern Europe, the international community finds it impossible to look on these people as an example for national aspiration or a potential threat as is the dichotomy faced by supreme states. In order to maintain a position of status, a nation must possess not only diplomatic diligence coupled with monetary manipulation, but they must enjoy the confidence of military supremacy to support the dictates of the state. This unique balance of power is rare in political history, it has occurred in Elizabethan England, Nazi Germany and present day in the good old U.S. of A. Social Darwinism is not a theory it is a fact, each of these empires had a common enemy, a common language, and a brand of idealistic doctrine.

These factors are not secondary requirements for maintaining a powerful state. The classic money, military, and men trio applies to global affairs. However the former trio is key to maintain the emotion of nationalism in the public. In England the doctrine was God and the Queen, and the enemy was the Protestant and anyone of a foreign land. In Germany the doctrine was strength, unity, and equality only to be achieved with the eradication of the Jewish population. In the United States the doctrine is democracy and freedom for all, the enemy has been black, fascist, red, and currently the elusive Taliban.

In the case of the Soviet Union and the United States (depending which side of the Atlantic you " re gazing from) both nations were strong but one was 'good' and the other deemed 'bad' according to the opposing political ideologies. The Cold War was an interesting time period because the power and the morals were divided relatively equally, but the coy countries never crossed the boundary of territorial threats, hence the stalemate. However, generally speaking good is determined to be whether or not a nation's government and economy meet the norm. Currently this would mean a representative government matched with a mixed economy. Not because this is necessarily the most efficient or benevolent form of running a state but because with the dissolution of the Soviet Union only one feasible option remained for national success. The conversion of Russia and its former satellite states to capitalist democratic republics has caused a tidal wave of economic and political woes.

Independent of the rubles persistent depreciation, territories the U.S.S.R. was able to unite under the hammer and sickle with a party identity fell into violent and bloody wars. Russia has dealt with it's own economic conversion and re-establishing a stable government, while tackling regional disputes with areas like Chesnyia. The fall of the empire rekindled World War II dreams of self-determination for Slavic peoples. Regional and ethnic conflict completely obliterated former Yugoslavia. For the last decade Serbs and Croats have persisted in their battle for independent states. A fight over custom, tradition, heritage, and religion, which has embittered the two for hundreds of years, is unlikely to find an easy resolution.

Conflicts of this nature impose a strain as great as full-scale revolution on nation states. National morale is greatly devastated, because a common enemy cannot be created out of one's own people without a threat to the nation as a whole. Business confidence crashes and leaves a gaping wound in the economy. Military resources are wasted on national preservation instead of protection. In the event of one ethnic success an inevitable chain reaction would begin. The chaotic map of Eastern Europe is a clear example of the perilous possibility of nation states degenerating into mini-nations, similar to Greek city-states.

The Greeks self identified just as much as the Romans without symbols and empires to hide behind, concepts and culture were sufficient. The parallel between twentieth century America and the Roman Empire has been drawn a million times. In a period when nationalism rears its' head to unify some and isolate others, computers cross borders but not bedrooms, and war reaches the ear of men on every continent, will national pride be relevant? The public is urged to accept new roles as members of the global economy, sometimes quaintly dubbed community. One can only hypothesize, that this slogan serves as a precursor for a rediscovery of communal life and ethnic identities. Melting pots are in the minority.

The National Question.