GLOBAL RISK DIALOGUE

Perhaps, in times of dizzy prosperity, as seen in recent years, and of virtual communication, learning and virtual ‘living’, nationalism may lose some of its importance for many people. Combined with the ‘virtual’ purchasing power (online buying, credit cards, etc., without ever having to handle the money physically), all this seems to numb people into a sense of ‘virtual community’.

In the material, emotional and physical reality of everyday life, people however are still confronted by their physical and cultural need for identity. At work, at school, on the bus …. in situations of conflict, when everything else fails, the ultimate backup psychologically seems to be the belonging to a group (nation, culture, ethnicity). The need for nationalism seems to arise from fear of losing recognised parameters of behaviour, economics, morality, amorality, communication, etc. This is a physical and material need arising from the physical body, matters of the soul and the intellect.

The virtual markets created by multinational companies, virtual learning and virtual development don’t need nationalism since the virtual evnironment they have created is highly seductive and immediate, boundary free, and not at all realistic in terms of the physical and material world. In the material world, we return to our more basic needs for identity …..

As long as we have electricity, fuel and all those tools that allow the virtual world to prosper, nationalism will become an increasingly diluted concept. On theother hand, the constant politico-economic pressure for ‘growth’ in every aspect of the economy and, to a certain extent, in people’s lives, will eventually strangle the planet’s resources …. at that point, I have a feeling nationalism may re-emerge perhaps in other ways, and as soon as our physical body starts screaming then, I have no doubt that the boundaries of what we want or fear will become much more distinct.

Nationalism therefore seems to be dormant at present, for the majority. However, it will never completely be wiped out … I mean, frankly, how would one explain otherwise my lovely English friends’ complaints about foreign rudeness and inefficiency every time they travel abroad on holiday? I think it is more to do with the instrinctive frustration of being unable to have their needs recognised and understood, rather than anything else. Funnily enough, I hear much fewer complaints when they go abroad on business …… then, they seem to appreciate the circumstances. And that could be explained by the fact that their need was understood, business being the common denominator, and they did not feel frustrated.

You say that nationalism and internationalism are opposite forces. It would be mistaken to assume that they are zero sum. In many cases they are, but not always. What is going on in the world today is a realignment where both forces are acting in parallel. Certainly, they interfere with each other to some degree, but they are acting largely independently. Take the example of Europe. It is continuing to fragment–Kosovo and Montenegro have recently split off and Catalonia and the Basque Country are gaining increasing autonomy. There are talks of Belgium splitting and Scotland gaining independence. I’m not necessarily saying that any of these will happen, but the forces are there. Meanwhile, the European Union is growing ever-larger, as is NATO. Several of the above examples of nationalism are current members of the EU, an organization with increasing authority. We find ourselves in a constructivist world a lot sooner than expected.