A study on how modern nationalism can prevent imperialism from re-emerging

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether or not a particular form of nationalism, also known as modern nationalism, where the populace of a certain nation claims the property rights of their land with boundaries can prevent or invite the re-emergence of imperialism. The aggressiveness of nationalism in the past that lead to imperialism are defined by the combination of a presence of nationalism as a push factor and the absence of nationalism as a pull factor. These push factors consist of nations wanting to claim more land, resources, (human) capital, market power, therefore pushing a nation outside their own original territory. The pull factor, no nationalism, attracts a nation to conquer territory and claim its property rights, resources, and (human) capital. The French revolution embarked the start of nationalism and as European nations started to form, other parts of the world did not, creating an imbalance of nations and non-nations. The decolonization period marked the turning point toward a balance as nationalism evolved into a modern form of nationalism . The pull factors for imperialism dissolved, as former colonies could claim property rights over their own distinctive territory, implying that the newly established nations have boundaries unrivaled to any previous period in history. The combination of the push and pull factors will lead to either the re-emergence of imperialism or to the prevention of a re-emergence of imperialism. The proposition of this research claims that because of a well-developed understanding of property rights over the national territory in international relations, it is going to be difficult for imperialism to reoccur as imperialism ignores and violates the property rights of other nations. Therefore, after examining cases on Europe and Japan, the tentative conclusion would be that modern nationalism will hinder the emergence of imperialism in the 21st century.