The nationalist fever will break eventually

In my view, nationalism, like populism, is an eruptive force in Western politics. It is not a comprehensive ideology. I like to say that nationalism is patriotism in an irritated state.

Bonds of national loyalty allow members of a given nation to live together in peace and endeavor to share their law and their resources with each other, though they come from different tribes, classes, religions, or races.

But when a section of those members feel that the common inheritance of their nation is threatened in some way, by war or sedition or a dysfunctional state, it becomes active. Sometimes this irritated state is more like arousal; citizens become interested in pursuing some great national project — an irredentist claim, a conquest, Manifest Destiny — and these powerful but normally quiet loyalties burst forth into a very demanding and exacting political movement. When the aim is decisively achieved, the nationalist fever breaks, and a new form of politics emerges. For reasons of history, some states have a more active nationalist tradition—France, Poland, and Ireland stand out particularly.

Because nationalist politics is this eruptive and opportunistic force, something that comes in to motivate and accomplish collective projects, we have to judge it by the justice of its cause, the ends it pursues, and the means by which it pursues them.