Nationalism and War with Lt. Gen. Patankar (Report)

Nationalism and War 

with  Lt. Gen. Patankar 

Session: Nationalism and War 

Speaker: Lt. Gen. Patankar 

Date: 21st August, 2021

Time: 5:00 to 6:30 

Moderator: Rohit Gupta

On the 21st of August, The Political Science Association hosted a session as a part of their Independence month celebration on ‘Nationalism and War', which was delivered by Lt. Gen. Patankar. Lt. Gen. Patankar served for four decades in the Indian Army, during which he held many important appointments, including those in highly sensitive and active counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operational areas in Manipur and in J&K. Lt. Gen. Patankar is a recipient of Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (UYSM) for his outstanding combat leadership and Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM), the highest peacetime award for military service. Currently, Lt. Gen. Patankar has been associated with think tanks within India and Abroad and works with volunteer groups and institutions.

Lt. Gen. Patankar firstly mentioned Clausewitz’s theory of war which says, “War is nothing but continuation of politics through other means”.

The first question that he pondered extensively on was ‘What is nationalism?’. As per Lt. Gen. Patankar, “Nationalism is defined as loyalty and devotion to a nation especially a sense of national consciousness, exalting one nation above all other and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interest as opposed to those of other nations.” He especially emphasised culture and interest mentioning how culture can be considered a part of soft power whereas national interest can be persuaded by using all means by a nation including hard power. The evidence of India's soft power can be seen everywhere like Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Ghana etc.

After nationalism, he took the session a step further by talking about supra-nationalism. Supra- nationalism means the advocacy of the formation of supranational organizations of governments like the European Union. But, intense nationalism of supra-national groups could become one of the causes of war. For example, LTTE of Sri Lanka, Khalistan in India or ISIS, etc.

PATRIOTISM

Do nationalism and patriotism mean the same thing and are they interchangeable?
They are similar insofar as both words emphasize loyalty, devotion and strong feelings for one country. However, the two words are not synonyms. Nationalism tends to imply the placing of a nation above others, which is not necessarily implicit in patriotism.

WAR

War as defined in Political Science:. “War is a political instrument, to the service of a State or another organization with political purposes.”

The dictionary defines war as “A state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations, (2): a period of such armed conflict, (3): state of war. Although, the dictionary definition was found unsatisfactory by Lt. Gen. Patankar to which justifying he said that war can be

fought without firing a single bullet in this day and age by mobilising entire nation’s resources or even threats of coercion, military conflicts, economic arm twisting, etc.

Can Nationalism be a cause of war?

According to Lt. Gen. Patankar, war is caused by a number of factors and not just nationalism. There are other aspects like political aims and ambitions are present when a war is fought.

Although the traditional idea of war among us has been guns and bombs, the reality of warfare has completely changed. With satellites monitoring every move of nations and a cyber attack that cause some serious damage to the privacy of nation, the nature of warfare has evolved.

Futility of War

War is neither futile nor is it not a necessity. If we look at the American intervention in Afghanistan and Vietnam, where they fought for years and years together and spent a massive amount of money, one can talk about futility in such cases. But war has not always been futile and they have achieved national interests like the nation’s war for independence.

Report drafted by Sakshi Jadhav, TYBA, Member of the Interim Committee.