Nationalism appears to be on the rise again. But this time around, it looks to be a gentler breed: proud, pragmatic and less antagonistic.
The world feels like it’s slowly congealing, not into a sort of gray homogeneous mush, but into a diverse federation of cultures that identify strongly with their heritage and decidedly work together in a system of markets.
This is best captured by the news of Radovan Karadzic’s capture in Serbia. Here is a quote from the New York Times:
Serbs are not desperate and they have not sold out, but they have seen that the nationalist rhetoric and slogans are empty and don’t work,†said Ljiljana Smajlovic, editor of Politika, a leading Serbian daily newspaper. “They see their manifest destiny in Europe.
I’ve never been of a fan of the idea of a world culture or government. It has a influential niche, but it will never be (or at least, I hope it’d never be) universal. Social order works best when applied at a local and regional level, and takes into account distinct population’s leanings. But order and cooperation at a global level is still possible. When we look at history, it is the need of resources that creates conflict. Even religious strife can often be traced to competition of resources.
If the protocol for the allocation of resources is understood by all and considered legitimate by its constituents, then it is possible that seemingly incompatible peoples can work together. Markets appear to be that protocol. The fear, though, has been that a single dominant market can – and will eventually – envelop its smaller members – as many think the United States has been doing across the world. But as countries have matured in this global system, we are seeing a re-embrace of regionalism at the cultural level, but globalism at an economic level. I think the European Union – for all its flaws – is a model of a wide system that leaves each region autonomous, while providing a framework for cooporation. And the positive reaction of the Serbian population on the capture of Karadzic, shows the value of markets, even among extremely proud people.