Nationalism: Analysis Of Álvarez’S Works Together And Anthony Smith

Nationalism: Analysis of Álvarez’s works together and Anthony Smith

We will analyze two essays that deal with nationalism. In Álvarez’s essay, we talk about primordialism, that is, the belief that a national phenomenon is something constant and natural and that it has existed throughout history. This theory, also called ethnicist, was its own thought until the mid -twentieth century, speaking of the national feeling as a political doctrine and a natural phenomenon. In addition, the theory went further and it was claimed that from the natural division of humanity in peoples or nations, they arose spontaneously, feelings of internal solidarity and external differentiation that aroused national consciousness and nationalist feeling. An important British essayist appears, Walter Bagehot who said that the nations "were as old as history" and in that sense, the nation is the natural. On the other hand, an author also close to this primordialist thesis is Hans Kohn, active between 1930 and 1960 and who traces the origins of nationalism to biblical Hebrews and classical Greece.

Later, new ways of interpreting nationalism appeared, highlighting the modernist or constructivist thesis, as opposed to the ethnicist or primordialist thesis. Constructivism is based on the idea that national culture and feeling are not only "inventions" but are "interested, functional inventions and consequences of a structural change in the role of culture," says Gellner.

This thesis also states that nationalism is related to modernity. An outstanding author of this thought is Benedict Anderson who related nationalism to communication and social interaction processes, rejecting that it is an ideology and saying that it is rather a cultural system. It also develops this national feeling as a predisposition to sacrifice to give life for the community.

Nationalism, like religion is in union to a shared language and texts with different functions. Imaginary communities present only in the minds of his followers, in which the human is immicked and in those who enjoy equality despite the ideological, geographical differences … nationalism began to spread through texts written in different languages, creatingbroader spaces, with internal cultural homogeneity and, in addition, objects and images were disseminated that penetrated the minds of the individuals of the communities, being encouraged from the State since it legitimized their authority.

In the essay of Pablo, Mees and Rodríguez Ranz, Basque nationalism is addressed, from how it arose to what characteristics are significant. Likewise, Basque nationalism is compared in Spain and France since it emerged differently and therefore, its consequences have also been. To explain Basque nationalism, you have to take into account how and in what context it arose since one of the decisive factors that led to its emergeof the Catholic Monarchs, with the expulsion of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 and the imposition of mandatory baptism for the Mudejares in 1501 and that at the end of the 19th century it remained provisional and superficial.

On the other hand, when analyzing the creation of Spain as a modern state, in the Basque territories, including Navarra, there is a great qualification since the regional system that continued to be implemented, allowed a wide margin of self-government, although it continued to respect the different monarchs. During the reign of Felipe V, the Basque territories became a fundamental pillar of the old regime since the central representatives respected their system, thus winning an ally. When the old regime began to fragment, the Basque system was under a great pressure against its structures, which could not endure and that led to the total abolition of the Basque Fueros after the law of July 21, 1876, integrating the provincesBasque in the Spanish State.

One of the main differences between the Basque territories and the Spanish State is the national spirit and the feeling of defense of the common homeland since until 1876, the Basque fueros allowed the replacement of the Basque fifths in exchange for sending a number of fixed inmatesyear. These discrepancies with the army caused, among other things, that even during the civil war, many Basques were reluctant to cooperate with the army.

Another characteristic that Basque nationalism led to at the end of the 19th century since despite the fact that there would be a greater rapport between the State and the Basque economy, this measure was late since, in 1891, the implementation of the implementation of theFirst protectionist tariff agreed with the foundation of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

The fight in favor of the fueros generated a sense of complicity and solidarity among the Basques, which established a collective value and developed a "Basque" consciousness. In addition, since the end of the 18th century, Basque leaders began to gather to discuss common problems and agree on policies for their relations with Madrid.

Basque nationalism in France arose differently than in Spain since, in 1789, the French found themselves in the Basque Country with political elites carrier from a kind of "proto-nationalist ethnic pride" that gave rise to the Cahiers de Doléances, considered as rejections of an obsolete past and that they had to melt on the common French project: the great nation. During the War of the Convention between 1793 and 1795, thousands of Basques were deported, they executed about forty and also took measures against Basque. Despite this, the Basques continued with the revolution, taking refuge in an ultramontane Catholicism, thus becoming the III Republic. Anticlericalism was a key issue during the last three decades of the 19th century, since the Republic started the competitions of the Church until, in 1905, the total church-state separation occurred.

The main difference between Spain and France was that in France the elites, especially from the III Republic they faced the construction of the Nation as a task with an aggressive and even "colonialist" attitude, this objective being the central axis of public budgets and theNew nationalist speech while passivity and ineffective.

During this nation-building process in Spain and the growth of Basque nationalism, both primordial and modernist visions appear since there are aspects of Basque nationalism that have emerged in a "natural" way such as the feeling of belonging to a specific territory, propitiated byThe fueros or a certain autonomy of government while there are other characteristics such as the influences of other countries such as France and discrepancLong of history.

In my view, the author who I think most influential in Pablo’s essay, Mees and Rodríguez Ranz is Anthony Smith, who inserts the national phenomenon in the process of modernization and tries to give a response of the cultural elites before the contradictionBetween identities and religious traditions. It also defends that the political organization should raise the standard of living of the social group, centralizing and homogenizing it. This thought is present throughout the essay. In the first place, Basque nationalism is full of characteristics of the modernist perspective since, depending on the historical moment, it is more influenced by each other and also the contradiction between identity and religious tradition is also reflected, especially duringThe III Republic in France, when they take refuge in an ultramontane Catholicism (religious traditions) but ends up giving a strong anticlericalism (identity). Finally, the idea of centralizing and homogenizing culturally to society is reflected in the essay when the theme of the abolition of Basque Fueros is addressed and, consequently, the integration of these territories in the Spanish State.

In summary, the two essays are of great help to understand in a clearer and more concise way the emergence and development of nationalisms, as well as their consequences. The first essay combines thoughts of very varied authors on the subject which allows what after reading of this, their own ideas about nationalisms can be formed and thus allowing a critical reasoning. The second essay, allows you to investigate more thorough. The essays also help to understand the emergence of other nationalisms, such as Catalan and to understand the context in which they began to develop and how they continued to evolve to this day.