Talk:State nationalism

Article purpose

This entry is strange and lacks reliable sources. It verges on original research, and the term seems to be more of popular use than really used by historians. Nationalism, would argue several historians, is a creation of the state; hence "state nationalism" is a bit oxymoric. That nationalism was then, sometimes, reversed against the state and used to fight it is another problem, but historically "state nationalism" precedes ethnic nationalism. Hence the strange use of this term, and of this stub. Tazmaniacs 15:46, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

The terms "staatsnation" and "kulturnation" were coined by Friedrich Meinecke(Meinecke, F. (1908) Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat. München /Berlin: R Oldenburg). Staatsnation ("state-nation" in English) is e.g. the USA or France, where membership is defined by state citizenship, not by ethnicity. "Statsnationalism" is used with this meaning in Swedish and AFAIU "staatsnationalismus" ("state-nationalism") in German. There might be a "legitimate" use of the word in English, too. However, the article describes something completely different than "staatsnationalismus", something that I don't know the name for (if indeed there is a name).Sjö 09:02, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Redirect to civic nationalism?Sjö 16:21, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

State nationalism (國家主義) is often used in East Asia as a contrasting concept with cultural nationalism or ethnic nationalism (民族主義), which is not quite the same as distinction between Western "civic nationalism" and "ethnic nationalism"; "civic nationalism" is based on liberal democracy, but state nationalism is a "top-down" nationalism centered around state/country, often related to conservatism. Equating "state nationalism" with "civic nationalism" should lead us to regard Chiang Kai-shek or Park Chung-hee as a civic nationalist; see Republic of China nationalism and Park Chung Hee#Legacy.

In particular, civic nationalism is often referred to as "liberal nationalism"; Soviet nationalism rejects ethnic nationalism but is not liberal; Japan's Kokkashugi ("state nationalism") is neither civic liberal nationalism nor ethno-nationalism, but totalitarian religious nationalism centered on Tennō.

Taiwanese nationalism has elements that are more ethnonationalist than ROC nationalism (e.g. Hoklo chauvinism, anti-Chinese sentiment, etc.), but to argue that ROC nationalism in the Kuomintang (KMT) is more "liberal" than Taiwanese nationalism in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it would be pro-KMT propaganda. I'm friendly to the Republic of China, but before the 1980s, KMT's White Terror in Taiwan was not "liberal" at all. ProgramT (talk) 07:05, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

For your information, "civic nationalism" is not entirely synonymous with "liberal nationalism", which also led to the discussion of existing article of Civic nationalism on the talk page. Simplifying numerous Nationalisms around the world into liberal "civic nationalism" vs illiberal "ethnic nationalism" structures is a very Western-centric view, and in many areas this is a ridiculous distinction. ProgramT (talk) 08:02, 20 July 2026 (UTC)