As i see things, we humans started off in groups and tribes- then it was "tribe loyalty" which kept people together as a close-knit group. Then, with advancement in weaponry and innovation in battle techniques, came the concept of kingdoms in Asia and Europe and the subsequent expansion of kingdom's across various continents and their ability to bind people together with mixed results. Then slowly came the rise of religion across the world as a major force- here we see that the rise of islamic warriors and the strong powers given to the christian church gave a whole new fervent dimension to loyalty (now the spiritual life and the political life was more intertwined than ever before). Then slowly as "nations" came to the fore, nationalism became the driving force for rulers and politicians around the world (as i see it, nationalism engraved itself all the more in the human psyche after the Industrial Revolution...i am definitely not commenting on the cause and effect relationship here). The suicidal Japanese kamikazis, the German army in the 1930s and 40s, the hatred that still persisits in the mind of Chinese people towards the Britishers for the Opium War of the 19th century are all glaring examples of nationalism at work.
Here i would like to clarify that these are not stages which have been strictly followed in that order- there have been case of overlap (like the thebans and the spartans having undying loyalty to their tribe despite existing under the larger umbrella of Greece), of a certain stage not being experienced in certain places at all (china never went through the religion phase, there were spritual thinkers from this land but none who gave birth to a widely followed or a state sanctioned religion), of one stage simultanously giving rise to another (advent of muslims in India leading to the consolidation of Hinduism as a religion, a consolidation which was completed with the arrival of Britishers and their divide and rule policy)
Nationalism still persists in our daily life, along with other binding forces like political, economic and other ideologies. But nationalism has remained the Numero Uno force for a long time(the islamic republic's being an aberration here because of the mix of nationalism and religiosity). I do not take the European Union as breaking away from the fold of nationalism, as trade barriers for product and services from outside Europe is still high. Anyways, nationalism works because I still expect an Indian communist to speak out against an unprovoked Chinese attack on our border (which they didn't in the war the two countries fought in the 1960s..that's just another area of debate), the American public to react the way it did after the 9/11 attacks, a Chinese citizen to frown at anyone who talks against China's human right record in Tibet, and an Iranian to fully support it's country's nuclear programme.
The question is, will nationalism be the last step? For the answer to that, let us again go back in time... The Industrial Revolution was borne out of the necessity for a better life which was not there before. Sure, the revolution got us luxury and a better lifestyle, but it also gave us a 350,000 year high of CO2 concentration in our atmosphere. A better technology which created more opportunities and expanded our horizons also created a new problem right from within it's own system. The Industrial Revolution gave rise to comparative advantage and international trade, something which went against "hardcore nationalism".
So, will nationalism be the last step? Well..for sometime now, we have being trying to work through the system that exists, in order to create a better and a refined system. There have been success stories, but not many that can make us stand and take notice. But atleast it is pretty evident from the recent rise in environmental awareness and the human right activism, that the answer to our question in the last paragraph is a resounding "no".
The questions which still persist- what are we heading towards then? Are we heading towards a global village? In the words of C.K.Prahalad, an "era of micro-entrepreneurs"? Where innovation for an MNC will be through "co-operation" with the consumer? And where CSR initiatives will not be for market positioning or philantrophy but sustainability and moral obligation? Where an online Halo or a Harry Potter fan's club will number in billions? Will that be possible with a third of the world's population living under a dollar a day? And most importantly, will that be possible when there is an overlap with other stages like religion and regionalism? or are we heading towards Marx's version of a proletariat revolt against the bourgeois?
