Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how nations built on predominantly ethnic ties are more susceptible to influencing factors which create a superior self-image and in turn an aggressive national mission. While the foundations of nationalism may be civil or ethnic, the paper explores how these tie in with factors such as territorial disputes, cultural/religious conflict, national humiliation, globalization, immigration and power to determine whether xenophobia is present under only certain conditions or if it is always inherent. The paper also examines the question of whether only very strong nationalism is xenophobic or whether even the very closely linked 'patriotism' is xenophobic.

From the Paper:

"The fact that there cannot possibly be enough nation states in the world to cater for every nation means that territorial disputes and sub-nations seeking a state are common causes for xenophobia. The Israel and Palestinian conflict is a notable example of two nations divided on strong ethnic/religious grounds conflicting over territory and in this case there seems little chance of a peaceful end in sight. This example gives weight to the view that whenever nations try to redefine borders of nation states there will always be xenophobia when there are ethnic nationalisms at play. The liberal idea of national 'self determination' seems to be a major factor for such territorial conflicts. The other major flaw of liberal nationalism is that it assumes nations live in 'convenient and discrete geographical areas' (Heywood 2007: 117). This is certainly not the case in the contested areas of Israel-Palestine and further complicated by the existence of contested sites and areas of extreme religious significance to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Nathanson, Stephen. (1997) 'Nationalism and the Limits of Global Humanism' in The Morality of Nationalism, R. McKim and J. McMahan (eds), Oxford University Press, pp 176-186.
• Tuminez, Astrid S. (2000) Russian Nationalism since 1856. USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
• Ignatieff, Michael. (1999) 'Benign Nationalism? The Limits of the Civic Ideal' in People Nation & State, E. Mortimer (Ed), London: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd, pp 141-149
• Heywood, Andrew. (2007) Politics. 3rd ed. Basingtstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
• Hearn, J. (2006) Rethinking Nationalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

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