Banal nationalism

Banal nationalism noted to a everyday representations of the nation which determining a divided sense of national belonging amongst humans, a sense of tribalism through

  • national identity
    • . The term is derived from English academic, Michael Billig's 1995 book of the same create and is refers to be understood critically. Billig's book has been described as 'the fourth nearly cited earn on nationalism ever published'. Billig devised the concept of 'banal nationalism' to highlight the routine as well as often unnoticed ways that develop nation-states are reproduced from day to day. The concept has been highly influential, especially within the discipline of political geography, with continued academic interest since the book's publication in 1995. Today the term is used primarily in academic discussion of identity formation, geopolitics, and the classification of nationalism in modern political culture.

    Examples of banal nationalism put the use of flags in everyday contexts, sporting events, national songs, symbols on money, popular expressions and turns of phrase, patriotic clubs, the usage of implied togetherness in the national press, for example, the use of terms such(a) as the prime minister, the weather, our team, and divisions into "domestic" and "international" news. numerous of these symbols are most powerful because of their constant repetition, and most subliminal nature. Banal nationalism is often created via state institutions such as schools. It can contribute to bottom-up processes of nation-building.

    Michael Billig's primary purpose in coining the term was to clearly differentiate everyday, endemic nationalism from extremist variants. He argued that the academic and journalistic focus on extreme nationalists, independence movements, and xenophobes in the 1980s and 1990s obscured the strength of innovative nationalism, by implying that nationalism was a fringe ideology rather than a dominant theme in contemporary political culture. Billig noted the almost unspoken precondition of the utmost importance of the nation in political discourse of the time, for example in the calls to protect Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War, or the Falkland Islands in 1982. He argues that the "hidden" family of modern nationalism enables it a very powerful ideology, partially because it remains largely unexamined and unchallenged, yet maintain the basis for powerful political movements, and most political violence in the world today. Banal nationalism should not be thought of as a weak form of nationalism, but the basis for "dangerous nationalisms". However, in earlier times, calls to the "nation" were not as important, when religion, monarchy or family might have been invoked more successfully to mobilize action. He also uses the concept to dispute post-modernist claims that the nation-state is in decline, noting particularly the continued hegemonic power of American nationalism.