著者

佐藤 成基

出版者

社会学研究会

雑誌

ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, no.3, pp.37-53,224, 2002-02-28 (Released:2016-11-02)

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This paper attempts to explore the relationships between nationalism and fascism in historical contexts. Nationalism is political action seeking to represent the "wills " and "interests" of the "nation" as a political (imagined) community, also regarded as "us" or "a people." Forms of nationalism historically vary. Fascism could be regarded as a form of nationalism, which first emerged in Europe under the impacts of the First World War. This "total war" brought about dramatic changes in the relationships between "state" and "society": while the state expanded their ruling functions and came to penetrate civilian lives more deeply, various political groups in society began to claim more actively their interests to the state. State and society were thus "democratized." As a result of these changes, nationalism turned from an official, top-down movement, which had still been dominant in the prewar period, into a popular mass movement seeking to mobilize the "nation" as a whole. The First World War also transformed the idea of nationalism: strong solidarity under the "total mobilization" and "fraternity" in trenches were idealized as symbols of the nation. The idea of the nation came to be associated with the memory of the experiences of national solidarity during the war. "Front soldiers" coming back from the battlefields became active bearers of nationalism and developed militant "paramilitary" movements. Moreover, the idea of "national self-determination," which was officially recognized by world leaders as a principle of international politics in the Paris Conference, raised the moral and political legitimacy of nationalism, although the Versailles settlement could never fully realize this ideal and even engendered resentments in some "nations." All these changes contributed to the rise of the popularity and the intensity of nationalism in the postwar period, which fascism was able to utilize to gain mass support.