Nationalism And Militarism: Choices And Decisions For Wars

Nationalism and militarism are closely intertwined. They are often the very justification and reason for wars. Can nationalism exist without militarism? This is truly a question that is foremost in the mind of people who are trying very hard to achieve global peace, in the midst of the many conflicts and wars between nations and superpowers in the world today. The answer is yes, if all nations demilitarize and keep only police force to maintain peace and stability. Some people might say that the idea of a demilitarized united world is plainly absurd and untenable because it would be impossible to prevent wars of aggression and greed waged by a great variety of hostile forces in the world. But, ironically, all across the world, the military forces of almost every country have steadily but almost imperceptibly changed from a national self-defence force into an armed forces to protect the ruling power and the ruling elite. For the proof of this, just look at how often have military forces all over the world been used for self defence and how often they have been used for aggression, for foreign intervention, or for military coup against the government, or to prop up existing government or regime. Indeed, to secure lasting peace for the world in the future, humankind has no choice but to plan for a future without the continuing proliferation and reinforcing of the already highly lethal military forces.