Abstract
This article investigates whether the politics of nationalism fosters
human development and global peace. Nationalism is a political
ideology that primarily gives birth to nation-states based on particular
shared identities, such as religion, race, culture, or language. Empirical
evidence shows that nationalism causes conflicts, which leads to
violence, terrorism or war. On the one hand, nationalism gives birth to
nation-states; on the other hand, it creates hostility in the world.
However, Lahouari Addi argues that giving birth to nations and their
nation-building are two different social phenomena. Addi contends that
the public sphere and civil peace are the essential conditions for nation-
building. Addi’s argument for nation-building is promising. In line with
this argument, this paper asserts that the politics of nationalism should
make human development and peace in their respective nation-states. To
explain malign and benign aspects, the paper differentiates between two
kinds of nationalism: negative and productive. Negative nationalism,
based on the politics of exclusion, discriminates, humiliates, exploits,
and coerces the people of other nations, which causes conflicts and,
eventually violence. This strand of nationalism is inconsistent with
human development and global peace. Instead, productive nationalism,
based on the politics of inclusion, fosters a sense of reverence for
humanity which supports self-respect, dignity, freedom, equality, and
fraternity in the world. Productive nationalism helps develop human
potential, which leads to positive peace through creative
accomplishments, such as performing arts, literature, and sports. Thus,
the research implies that the politics of productive nationalism creates
positive moral values to promote cooperation among people within and
across the nations, which fosters human development and peace in the
world. In the domain of qualitative research, this paper adopts the
methodology of empirically informed philosophical analysis to evaluate
the documentary resources.