To What Extent Is Nationalism a Backward Looking Ideology

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To what extent is nationalism a backward looking ideology? Nationalism is a political ideology that can be implemented in many different ways. Due to this it is found in various ideologies all over the political spectrum and so there are many tensions within nationalism itself. Within nationalism you need to establish a national identity. Some strands will focus on previous glory such as conservative nationalists, while some, like liberal nationalists look forward and look to create a new national identity. I do not think any form of nationalism cannot truly be called backward or forward and there are many cross overs between the two. I think the only truly forward looking significant strand of nationalism is liberal nationalism. As the other strands of nationalism all contain some forward looking policy I believe as a whole, nationalism is forward looking. The most significant strands of nationalism are liberal, conservative, expansionist and anti-colonial. In recent history there have been examples of all these forms of nationalism. Liberal nationalism, the oldest form of it has been around since the French revolution and had traditionally been seen as forward looking. Liberal nationalism is considered as forward looking because they focus on finding an identity which will unify the most amount of people. This means liberal nationalism is inclusive, anyone can join. The main focuses of liberal nationalism is a that a nation is a sovereign entity, entitled to liberty and possessing rights, perhaps most importantly, the right of self-determination. All these liberal concepts are performed under the notion of general will which is the interests of a collective body equivalent to the common good. The opposite to liberal nationalism could be considered to be expansionist nationalism as it is allegedly backward looking. I don't completely agree that
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