Patriotism

The term patriotism is derived from the Greek word πατρíζ (patris), which means father, and patria, which means fatherland or home country. So the word patriotism is used to represent a positive link to one's own nation or fatherland and love for one's home country or own people. In this definition, patriotism is a positive aspect of national identity. In cultural terms, patriotism identifies distinctive aspects of the nation such as its ethnic, cultural, political, and historical features. Constitutional patriotism stands for loyalty to a democratic constitution with international ethical and political rules. These rules are based in Western legal traditions that respect the central dignity of human beings and thus refer to human rights that are recognized universally. The “hip-hip-hooray-patriotism,” however, that sees other countries and peoples as inferior, and one's own country as most important or superior, is considered a negative type of patriotism.

From a historical point of view, in the first instance patriotism was a political development. In central Europe, patriotism evolved from ideologies of liberalism and nationalism of the bourgeoisie or emerging middle class and was regarded as revolutionary. At that time the bourgeoisie sought to establish a national state with a democratic constitution by criticizing feudalism. However, the meaning and the use of the concept changed over time, increasingly becoming a serious, deeply rooted, earnest engagement for the well-being of the community. As a concept linked to democracy, or the reign of the people, patriotismunderstood as positive nationalism by most peoplebecame a constitutional and real feature of most European states only after the American Revolution in 1776 and the French revolution in 1789. Before this, patriotism was only an idea, discussed by intellectual elites, and there were many historical setbacks to its establishment. Later, during the Napoleonic wars, patriotism became known as a political idea in bourgeois circles in other European countries as the liberal and democratic ideals of the French revolutionliberty, equality, fraternityspread. From the middle of the 19th century, the term patriotism was increasingly connected with nationalism and chauvinism, terms that mean the belief in the superiority of one's own nation and the resulting devaluation of other nations. Patriotism especially came to imply national superiority after the German unification of 1871 (“the German character will heal the world”). Subsequently, those promoting European fascism and National Socialism used patriotism as a belief system to legitimate their aims and military objectives. After World War II, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, as a reaction to the [Page 536]ideologies of fascism and National Socialism, distinguished patriotism from the negatively connoted nationalism, and thus enabled a place for increased feelings for home country that had been lost under nationalistic conceptions of the term.

Now the term patriotism has several distinctive meanings. First, patriotism expresses the feeling of positive identification with a nation. In this sense, patriotism refers to the emotional aspect of national identity. Second, at a macrolevel, societal-level perspective, it describes a desire for high internal cohesion in a democratically constituted society, especially in the United States. Patriotism, in this sense, is expressed by a variety of nation-related rites such as the loyalty oath to the United States (Pledge of Allegiance), the decoration of houses with the national flag, or conferring laws such as Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT Act of 2001) that are intended to protect the security of the nation. The third use of the term patriotism, seen from the microperspective of the individual, is closely linked to the description of opinions and behavior referring to the nation (ideology). This ideology is different from nationalism and chauvinism in many ways. First, although nationalism and chauvinism imply idealizing one's own nation without criticism (“my country right or wrong”) and the belief in the superiority of one's own group, the meaning of patriotism is identification with one's own land and people without putting them above others or implicitly devaluing other people and nations. Second, there is a distinction between patriotism and nationalism with respect to the criteria that are used to define national membership. Nationalism as an ideology implies objective rules of membership of the nation, citizenship, as the result of formal criteria such as birthplace. Patriotism as an ideology puts more emphasis on subjective criteria such as identification with the nation, and people can be patriotic without formal “membership” (citizenship) of the nation. Third, patriotism differs from nationalism in emphasizing what central characteristics should define the nation as a social group. Although nationalism emphasizes the importance of national history and tradition, patriotism sees the defining elements of nations in the successful accomplishment of democratic principles and human rights. Fourth, patriotism favors democratic principles in communication between state and citizen whereas nationalism implies authoritarian solutions to achieving political order. Consequently, patriotism as an ideology is more tolerant of foreigners and minorities than is nationalism. Nationalism is a central aspect in ethnocentrism, the belief that one's own racial or ethnic group is superior to the rest. Apart from these differences, the ideologies of patriotism and nationalism also have common elements. Both imply strong national identity, that is, identification with the nation. Both ideologies also become critical of the nation if the national reality does not meet the respective ideological requirements of nationalism and patriotism.

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