Explain centripetal forces with special reference to nationalism
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: A centripetal force is something causing an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state. The word centripetal means "directed toward the center." It is the opposite of centrifugal, which means "to spread out from the center." Most states find that the best way to achieve citizen support is to emphasize shared attitudes that unify the people.
Nationalism is an important example of centripetal force. It is loyalty and devotion to a nationality. It typically promotes a sense of national consciousness that exalts one nationality above all others and emphasizes its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nationalities. People display nationalism by supporting a state that preserves and enhances the culture and attitudes of their nationality.
States foster nationalism by promoting symbols such as flags and songs. The symbol of the hammer and sickle on a field of red was long synonymous with the beliefs of communism. After the fall of communism, one of the first acts in Russia was to redesign a flag without the hammer and sickle. Nationalism can be a negative force especially when a nation is defined in ethnic terms. The sense of unity within ethnic nationalism is often achieved by creating negative images of other nation-states. German nationalism openly denigrated minority groups, such as Jews and Slavs, who became victims of the Nazi regime in World War II. Another example is Yugoslavia, which was a multinational country that prospered during the twentieth century.
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