The impact of geographical division and power politics in nationalism

Abstract

Nationalism is a broader discourse and to provide a particular definition of nationalism is tough. Although a number of researches have already been published on nationalism and its relative terms and theories. Yet in this paper, I am going to discuss the impact of geographical division on nationalism referring to the conflict of Pak- India, Mexico – US border and Russia’s exercise of power politics on its neighboring countries. Moreover, I have found the geographical borders do not act as boundaries only, but it has social, political and cultural effects. On the other hand, Russia set a noticeable example of practicing power politics after its attack on Ukraine based on the recent published literature. The broader objective of this research is to find out how partition and exercise of political power hamper nation’s peace and create problems in people’s lives. My claim is, although the creation of border introduces a new diaspora and opportunity for political monopoly, it also creates chaos in national life. However, war is by no means the solution to solving international issues. Moving beyond Hall's idea of cultural diaspora, this paper is trying to see how nationalism incorporates the idea of immigration and diaspora and building up criticisms against American vision of migrant people. Thus, I have selected six texts as my primary sources and also included a number of secondary research-works to strength my claim. Using ‘Power Transition Theory’ and ‘Democratic Peace Theory’ along with multiple scholars’ arguments this paper is determined to acknowledge the negative impact of border- division and war in particular nationalist discourse.