The Springs of Asian Nationalism

Abstract

MODERN nationalism in Asia is like a stream which has flowed from many springs. The pace and direction of flow have varied in different countries and at different times; cross-currents have occurred frequently and there has been much overlapping. There is no one single way to the sources but there are some features which are sufficiently general and widespread as to allow their identity to be broadly stated and exemplified. At one stage or another a sense of history has entered into the nationalist programme. Ideological concepts imported into Asia and, to some extent, developed within Asia have been highly significant. The ‘anti’ element in nationalism has also been very strong, often directed against Europeans but perhaps almost equally often against other Asians. Social change, arising from complex factors, brought new leaders and new organisations to the stage of politics and therefore to that of nationalism; social programmes were often part of the new nationalist ideal. The educational factor in all its various manifestations is of the greatest importance in any study of Asian nationalism; so is religion which, to take extreme cases, has blended harmoniously with nationalism or has torn it apart. The pressure of events in other parts of the world and a tendency for political chain reactions to take place within Asian regions themselves are other matters which need to come into the general reckoning. It is virtually impossible to suggest general priorities among all these courses and causes and certainly impossible to give them more than broad treatment and illustration within this present work. It again needs to be emphasised at the outset that Asian nationalism was not merely a revolt against the West; it has had its own cultural roots which lie deep.