Research Paper on:
Eastern and Western Civilization and Nationalism

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The question of whether nationalism, the strong belief in country and culture, is a uniquely western phenomena within European civilization, is one which is frequently broached by political theorists.  While nationalism has been evidenced time and time again among the western European countries and, in fact, has resulted in the evolution of liberal democracy, it is not limited  to western Europe. Indeed, nationalism has made its presence known among eastern European countries as well. In both eastern European countries and western European countries, however, it is  natural to ask whether nationalism been a help or hindrance to the evolution of a liberal democracy. Nationalism is the strong expression of  an ideology. This ideology varies, of course, according to the culture under consideration. Indeed, it is the very diversity of nationalistic premises which has shaped the face of  the world as we see it today. One cultural group after another has risen up to proclaim themselves a nation in a national liberation movement which has escalated over  time. This movement has been particularly progressive among western countries within the last two centuries. Eastern European countries have not been far behind on the nationalist bandwagon, however.  Since the collapse of the former U.S.S.R., in particular, nationalism has gained momentum within Eastern Europe as the small countries which had composed the larger conglomerate sought to reestablish  their individual identity. Overall, however, the history of nationalism in Europe as a whole has been long and tremendously diverse. During  the 1800s in particular Europe was undergoing great political changes at the hands of nationalistic ideology. The Napoleonic wars are only one example of the many changes which