This essay by Ash Pulcifer discusses the damage that excessive nationalism — which is well-expressed in the idea of a “New American Century” — can do to international peace and cooperation.

His argument, in short, is that unbridled nationalism results in a self-serving and inconsiderate posture in global politics, and encourages other nations to do the same. It also results in the nations of the world seeing each other as threats, instead of seeing each other as partners and friendly neighbors. Thus, places like North Korea and Iran, for example, are driven to militarize and dig in for an inevitable confrontation, instead of being inclined to cooperate and engage. Another example of the damage of nationalism is the rifts that have grown between the U.S. and France, Germany, and even Canada. Trade between the U.S. and those countries has suffered due to the split over the Iraq War, and trade is historically the single biggest mechanism for avoiding conflict between two nations. If our fortunes are tied to those of other nations, there is a great disincentive to fighting. If our fortunes are isolated and capsulized via spiteful international boycotts, then each of us has nothing to lose from fighting with the other.

Read The Essay