Nationalism

Nationalism is a thought or movement to direct people's consciousness towards a nation or ethnic group's goal to unite&sbquo become independent&sbquo and develop. It is translated into Japanese as kokkashugi (nation-ism)&sbquo kokuminshugi (citizen-ism) or minzokushugi (ethnicity-ism)&sbquo words that generally give a benign impression. Another translation is kokusuishugi&sbquo which represents strong spiritual unification and solidarity of a movement&sbquo and is a more ideological and specific term. The reason for the diverse impressions is that the meaning is rooted in the emotion and daily sensitivity of each member of the nation or ethnic group. However&sbquo if the word represents a highly specific policy&sbquo or its expression&sbquo that is shared by the people of the nation or ethnic group&sbquo it becomes an international proclamation of the existence of the people as a group rather than as individual members of the group. This leads to the integrity and consistency of the conviction and emotion formed by identifying the individual (= self) with the nationality or ethnicity. Securing this commonness is defined as national identity. When the self is identified with the nation&sbquo the self-awareness of that identification is called ethnic consciousness. A movement created by this consciousness leads to the confirmation of that identity&sbquo such as national (ethnic) traditions&sbquo national benefits&sbquo national security&sbquo and national duty&sbquo and can be a crucial trigger for self-awareness. National identity or ethnic self-awareness&sbquo however&sbquo does not necessarily become&sbquo by itself&sbquo the instrument of nationalism. The most fundamental factor that stimulates self-awareness as a member of the nation is the sharing of the language. This is called a uniform language. The institutional character of the nation is structured by confirming differences with other cultures through language. When this institution by language is destroyed through oppression or the occupation by other nations&sbquo the nationalism transforms without fail into the ideology of ultra-nationalism (kokusuishugi). For design&sbquo I am convinced and it is essential that nationalism is a means to recognize the differences with other cultures and express respect for them.

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