Nationalism, the true driver of Democracy

     Democracy is the way of governance which is run by the people for their own betterment. Here the citizens of a country exercise power by voting and choosing their representative who would ultimately work for them. In Direct Democracy, the entire power of a country is vested in the hands of the citizens as they are capable of choosing the PM or President or Ruler of the country directly. But in indirect democracy, the citizens elect representatives from among themselves. These representatives meet to form a governing body, such as a legislature. In a constitutional democracy the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but the constitution limits the majority and protects the minority, usually through the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, e.g. freedom of speech, or freedom of association. In democracy, the citizens as a whole form a governing body and vote directly on each issue. Elections take place in regular intervals so that the citizens would get the opportunity to test, select, reject or change their ruling authority. But every election is based on several issues. Every political leader try to allure and provoke the citizens by several promises on different issues. But the 21st century democracy somehow lacks basic issues as it is more affected by the politicians, not the people. But the common folk should find out the hidden issues which are most crucial for a government. One of such issues is NATIONALISM.  

     Nationalism is a political, social, cultural and economic ideology characterized by the promotion of the interests of a particular nation. Every person must be conscious about the sovereignty of his/her own nation and the national interests. Nation should always have a larger importance in a person's life. Nationalism covers a wide range of phenomena and larger political interests of a person. It is accompanied by national security, political stability, economic prosperity, socio-cultural uplifting & all-round development of the nation. Therefore this should possess optimum importance while voting to form a government. Nationalism is a spirit while democracy is a constituted system. When both of them will co-exist , definitely the nation will go through a golden era.

     Nationalism as an ideology is quite modern. Throughout history, people have had an attachment to their kin group and traditions, to territorial authorities and to their homeland, but nationalism did not become a widely-recognized concept until the 18th century. There are three paradigms for understanding the origins and basis of nationalism. Primordialism proposes that there have always been nations and that nationalism is a natural phenomenon. Ethnosymbolism explains nationalism as a dynamic, evolutionary phenomenon and stresses the importance of symbols, myths and traditions in the development of nations and nationalism. Modernism proposes that nationalism is a recent social phenomenon that needs the socio-economic structures of modern society to exist.

     Political leaders have always harnessed nationalism to undermine democracy. But that need not always be true. My research shows inclusive nationalism— based on shared ideas or principles rather than race, ethnicity or religion— has helped create and support vibrant democracies. Nationalism  is  generally used to describe two important phenomena. The first is the attitude that the members of a country possess towards their nation, which is often called one's national identity. This raises questions about the concept of a nation or national identity, which is often concerning common origin, ethnicity or cultural core-values. The second form of nationalism is political and it includes actions that groups take when seeking to achieve and maintain self-determination. This is about  whether self-determination must  be understood as involving having  full statehood, the status or condition of being a state, with  complete authority over domestic  and international affairs. While selecting a government for a nation, the citizens must be aware of these facts.

     Of course we do vote for the leaders on the basis of their performance and our issues. But all these things should be kept in mind while voting and prior to that, we must analyse whether a person or a government is capable of exercising all the national duties along with developmental works or not; whether his ideology is associated with the national interest or not; whether he is able to fulfill the national aspirations of the country or not. If a government is working for us, but ignoring its national duties & responsibilities; then it is a great danger for our democracy. One thing must be in mind of every citizens- "NATION FIRST, SELF LAST".

     When the concept of nationalism would be learned by a leader, he would never tolerate corruption in any form; he will never ignore the national interest, never compromise with the national security of the nation as well as the most concurrent issue of terrorism; never tolerate seeing the poor living in gutter; and never keep the people of the country in darkness. Therefore the best way to exercise and enjoy the purest form of democracy is NATIONALISM which will inspire each person to live for the nation, think for the nation and work for the nation instead of his/her self goal and interest.

RITESH RANJAN MEHER
Sambalpur University