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cultural superiority. In nineteenth-century Europe it was widely believed that the ‘white’ peoples of Europe and America were intellectually and morally superior to the ‘black’, ‘brown’ and ‘yellow’ peoples of Africa and Asia. Indeed, Europeans portrayed imperialism as a moral duty: colonial peoples were the ‘white man’s burden’. Imperialism supposedly brought the benefits of civilization, and in particular Christianity, to the less fortunate and less sophisticated peoples of the world. More particular varieties of national chauvinism have developed in the form of pan- nationalism . In Russia this took the form of pan-Slavism, sometimes called Slavophile nationalism, which was particularly strong in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Russians are Slavs, and enjoy linguistic and cultural links with other Slavic peoples in eastern and south-eastern Europe. Pan-Slavism was defined by the goal of Slavic unity, which many Russian nationalists believed to be their country’s historic mission. The chauvinistic character of pan-Slavism derived from the belief that the Russians are the natural leaders of the Slavic people, and that the Slavs are culturally and
spiritually superior to the peoples of central or western Europe. Pan-Slavism is therefore both anti-Western and anti-liberal in orientation. Forms of pan- Slavism have been re-awakened since 1991 and the collapse of communist rule in Russia. This has been most apparent in the adoption of a more assertive and sometimes expansionist foreign policy under Vladimir Putin, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Pan-nationalism: A style of nationalism that is dedicated to unifying a disparate people either through expansionism or political solidarity (‘pan’ means ‘all’ or ‘every’).
TENSIONS WITHIN . . . NATIONALISM (2) Liberal nationalism v.
Expansionist nationalism
national chauvinism
national self-determination
inclusive
exclusive
voluntaristic
organic
progressive
reactionary
rational/principled
emotional/instinctive
human rights
national interest
equal nations
hierarchy of nations
constitutionalism
authoritarianism
ethnic/cultural pluralism
ethnic cultural purity
cosmopolitanism
imperialism/militarism
collective security
power politics
supranoationalism
international anarchy
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