The Inadequacy of the Nation-Based System—Continued

Membership in a national identity is not free. It comes at an exorbitantly high price. Humanity is paying this price every day, both as direct costs and as missed profits. This paper outlines some of the many troubling issues nationalism is responsible for.

Nationalism entails a confrontational relationship between the states of the world, as competition over the world's resources and conflicting interests lead to hostility. This leads to sentiments towards other nations that hang over the interactions between their people as well as influence policy decisions, often away from rationality.

As a consequence, nationalism is the chief cause of conflict and instability in the present world. It has led to destruction on a scale never seen before in history. The inherent desire of nations to expand their power, have more resources, and further their interests leads them to pursue violence with impunity and even legitimacy.

This system also does not offer an effective mechanism to resolve issues that transcend national boundaries. The environmental crisis is a glaring example of the inability of nations to face worldwide challenges, and humanity’s very existence is jeopardized as a result.

Many other troubles that humanity faces are exacerbated by nationalism. Despite the immense resources at our disposal today, parts of the world still have widespread poverty, illiteracy, disease and even famine. The reason is not unavailability of resources or logistics issues, but the alienation of people and governments by national boundaries and their resulting selfishness. The same applies to natural disasters. Even when nationalism is not the knife that cuts, it often prevents the wound from healing.

By impeding development nationalism also perpetuates an unequal world order in which people have different privileges and opportunities based on national identity. It is also a world order which greatly restricts people's rights, leaving them with only those which the nation grants them.

The national system makes people dependent on national status for their very humanity. Anything in the world can only be accessed if one has a nationality. In addition to nations being associations of people sharing a common identity, they have also become their overlord and made people dependent on them. Individuals have no political, social, or legal standing without a nationality.

Consider the soldier bleeding to death on the battlefield, the family whose house is destroyed in an airstrike, and the refugees imprisoned in detention camps. Also think of the student whose university plans were foiled by visa issues, the poor people struggling with living costs because of restrictive trade policies, and the immigrants experiencing xenophobic hatred. All of these people are, whether they believe it or not, victims of the nationalist system. Yet if any one of them is asked they will almost certainly affirm the principle of nationalism. Such is the power of indoctrination. It is not the advantages of the national order that lead people to support it, but the one-way thinking of society. Humanity must look in other directions and see what is good for itself.

It can be argued, and with good reason, that the world is not as terrible as this paper may make it appear. For all the problems in this system, it is not a dystopian world: most people do live in relative stability and comfort and have basic rights. Importantly, they are satisfied with it. Admittedly, the situation of humankind could be much worse.

But is that an excuse for not improving further? Do we stop striving for a better world and accept these issues unsolved? Just because the world is not at its worst does not mean it is too good to be changed. To quote from Nature of World Government: ‘Humanity can remain content with a system that keeps them out of hell—or they can set up a new one which has the possibility of taking them to heaven.’