Nationalism: Virus of Subjugation

This is a very interesting turn of perspective to me. As I was reading an article on the conflict between US and China's trade policies, I came across this statement "American and Chinese workers must reject the political poison of protectionism and nationalism that subordinates them to the ruling class in each country." Such a strong statement hit practically hit me on my ideas of how nationalism works for a country.

Ideally, it would be the driving force for the nationals to work hard for their country's sake. Protectionism, on the same note, would come about as one of the economic policies from the desire to have a nationalistic social construct. It would ideally allow for the said country to develop internally. But a downside to such a policy would be its feasibility because of the fact that a country's political-economy is always tied to that of another. This is not to say that it cannot exist without the other. Of course it can, but it cannot continue with its desired progression without the aid of the others. As could then be seen here, such manifestation of nationalism could bring more detrimental effects to a nation rather than developmental ones.

The statement given by the article on nationalism as with the case of the Americans in the US and the Chinese points out that because of their nationalist perspectives, they are actually the ones bringing on the so-called "trade war" upon themselves. From what I have learned in our International Relations courses, such effects are what could be called as extreme forms of nationalism. Yes, it can right up there with the Nazi anti-semitism and the Rwanda genocide.

The nationalist perspectives of both states are what could be said to have brought them to want to bring the best to their nation at the expense of the other power. It is because of the hegemonic desire of both (one trying to retain its position and the other trying to claim it) that implicated threats are being made by one toward the other. Very scrupulous about this are the recent moves by the US in trying to subjugate the expansion attempts of China in its concessions and influences. In other related articles, it is implied by the authors that they fear that if such a likely trade war would occur, it is not only these two that will have to deal with the outcome but also the nations tied to both of them, most especially the growing economies in the Asian region.

If such an predicted effect would take place, then it is most likely that the world is about to witness a war of another kind that can most definitely have destructive capacities. It may not be in the way that conventional wars do it, but it will.

From this simple statement then we see how a familiar strand of history can take itself back into our midst and present itself in another form much like the mutation of a virus. Strength in nationalism is always an admirable trait of a country. But when placed in a diagram such as this one, it is scary to think of what it could do.