By Anselmo Boaventura
Short answer: Nationalism can make a country richer when it widens trust between strangers: Meiji Japan, nineteenth century Germany and post-war Korea all used national identity to mobilise savings, schooling and industry. It destroys wealth when it excludes people or serves a narrow elite, as Europe's world wars and many post-colonial states show. What actually creates wealth is not nationalism itself but the trust it can produce, which is why traditions that never centred the nation-state, such as Ibn Khaldun's asabiyyah and African Ubuntu, reached similar conclusions by other routes.
Four traditions, one question
| Tradition | What holds people together | What the state is for | Verdict on wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe (Serra, Smith, List) | Law, rights, shared justice | Defence, justice, public works; protect young industries | Strong citizenship built the most powerful wealth machine yet, at a heavy price for the colonised |
| East Asia (Lord Shang, fuqiang, Confucius) | Duty, order, the ruler's virtue | Mobilise for wealth and strength; secure livelihood first | National purpose drove catch-up growth; when people became mere resources, famine followed |
| Islamic world (Ibn Khaldun) | Asabiyyah, shared rules | Light taxes, no confiscation | Cohesion builds wealth; heavy taxes and injustice destroy it |
| Africa (Ubuntu) | Relationship and kinship | Largely outside the frame | Excellent trust inside the circle; weak with strangers |
The European case
Adam Smith's market rests on three duties of the state, defence, justice and public works, all paid for by a community that accepts the same law. Friedrich List argued in 1841 that a young nation needs a shared identity, schools, railways and protection for its infant industries. Robert Putnam found that Italy's regions with dense civic networks had richer economies and better government. Belonging, in this tradition, is capital.
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The Asian case
Chinese reformers in the nineteenth century spoke of fuqiang, "wealth and strength"; Japan's Meiji leaders used almost the same characters, fukoku kyōhei, "enrich the country, strengthen the army." National humiliation became a motor for growth. But Confucius had warned long before that trust comes before food and arms: without the trust of the people a state cannot stand.
The African case
Mozambique shows what happens when citizenship is used as a weapon. For centuries its people traded gold and ivory across the Indian Ocean through fluid, relational networks. Colonial rule then classed Africans as subjects, not citizens, and extracted their labour. The result was a deep, rational distrust of the state and a large informal economy that still runs on Ubuntu-style trust.
So, does nationalism make countries rich?
The evidence across three continents suggests four conditions:
- The circle of trust must be wide, reaching people you will never meet.
- The state must belong to its producers, not extract from them.
- Taxes must be light and honestly collected.
- Wealth must keep circulating instead of pooling in a few hands.
Nationalism that delivers these makes nations rich. Nationalism that does not is just a flag.
Frequently asked questions
Is nationalism good for the economy? It can be, when it builds trust, schooling and investment for everyone. It harms the economy when it excludes groups, starts wars or shields a narrow elite.
What is fuqiang? A Chinese term meaning "wealth and strength" or "wealth and power," the goal shared by Chinese reformers and leaders since the nineteenth century.
What is social capital? Networks of trust and norms of reciprocity that make cooperation easier, a term made famous by Robert Putnam.
Why are some former colonies still poor? One reason is that colonial states used citizenship to exclude the majority, teaching people to distrust the state and to keep their wealth where it could not be seen or taxed.
Read more: The Nature of Belonging is a 17-chapter book on this question, from Antonio Serra and Adam Smith to Kautilya, Confucius, Ibn Khaldun, Ubuntu, Fanon, Mondlane and Machel, ending with a six-step path for Mozambique. Free chapters on the book page.
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