Comparing Nationalism in Africa Verses China

Comparing Nationalism in Africa verses China

One of the most important resources of any country is the ideology and belief of its

people as a whole; hence the importance of nationalism.  The basic concept of nationalism is the

strong belief that the interests of a particular nation-state are of primary importance for the

building up of society in all facets. In this following essay I will break down this concept in

African society, Chinese society, and then compare the two. Although, both societies believe in

nationalism, nationalism is materialized different within the two different societies.  

African nationalism has also embraced the concept of Pan Africanism; which is a modern

phenomenon that attempts to build a unity nation within a specific geographic area. Nationalism

in Africa is a political movement for the unification of Africa (Pan-Africanism) and for national

self-determination. Rather than seeing themselves as individual tribal people groups. It is about

Anti- imperialism, eliminating state’s economic and political dependency on the West. Unity,

Economic development, state led, and strong executive controlling activity within civil society.

In more aspects than not it is the same with Chinese society.

Pan-Africanism is a healthy unity building ideology for society however, there is heavy

tension between nationalism when considering race or nationality. In further research it shows

the Pan-Africanism seeks to unite all the indigenous groups in the fight for freedom and against

racism and discrimination which has evolved over time to the changing conditions into an

inclusive South Africanism. The most important strand evolved into the nationalism of the

African National Congress which meant the building of a non-racist, non-sexist, democratic

society.

Chinese nationalism has drawn from extremely diverse ideological sources including

traditional Chinese thinking such as Taoism and Confucianism, American

progressivism, Marxism, and Russian ethnological thought. Nationalism in China’s goal is to

pull china together in order to take their place as dominating country. There used to be a