Nationalism is a political doctrine based on the principle that the boundaries between a nation and state should agree. It emerged as a historical movement in the nineteenth century, rooted in the ambition of different peoples for self-determination. An example of why it can be argued that nationalism is aggressive and expansionist is through its tendency to create a 'them' and 'us' with regards to other nations. Within expansionist nationalism, for example, there are examples of a kind of perceived chauvinist superiority, one which is seen to justify the concept of imperialism seeing colonization as a "moral duty." It is intrinsic then to some strands of the ideology that there is a necessity for expansionism. This area in particular is firmly rooted in militarism and in the past has evolved concepts such as pan-nationalism, which views the concept of expansionism as a necessary and more importantly unifying force. However, I will also be looking at how nationalism is not aggressive and expansionist due to reasons such as that it is also an idealistic concept that is able of being an important constructive strength as shown in liberal nationalism.
One form of nationalism which is more likely to be inherently aggressive and expansionist is expansionist nationalism. This is aggressive and expansionist due to the chauvinistic beliefs. According to this strand, nations are not thought to be equal in their right to self-determination. Instead, some nations are believed to have qualities that make them superior to others. This is clearly expressed in regards to European imperialism. It was believed that the white Europeans were superior to the black, brown and yellow people of Africa and Asia. Because of this, imperialism was seen as a moral duty where it was the "white man's burden" to civilize those who lived in the territories the Europeans claimed. This is aggressive as the means in achieving this were violent find example of this.