Ukraine: Battleground Between Globalisation and Nationalism

More and more it seems that Ukraine has become a battleground between the forces of globalisation (represented by the USA / the collective West / NATO and some parts of Ukraine) and nationalism (represented by Russia and other parts of Ukraine).

In the speech Putin gave as he announced the annexation of 4 regions of Ukraine, much was about the West and seemed to represent a deep resentment and fear of Russia being absorbed into USA-driven globalisation.

The tension between these two forces - globalisation and nationalism - recalls these quotes:

"A global civilisation that encompasses the whole world and that coerces everybody into the same products, the same customs, the same attitudes as well as the same means of communication – such a civilisation will, on the one hand, actually draw everyone closer. On the other hand, it provokes rather violent counter-reactions: a growing nationalism, a growing fundamentalism, even fanaticism, be it ethnic, religious, social or ideological”.

― Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic 1993-2003

And this:

“In our finest hours, though, the soul of the country manifests itself in an inclination to open our arms rather than to clench our fists…”

― Jon Meacham

While globalisation represents the entry of nations into an interconnected and increasingly deterritorialised field of markets, cultures, businesses and governments, nationalism represents a prioritisation of the health, territorial integrity, culture and self-interests of a particular nation.

While globalisation represents the entry of nations into an interconnected and increasingly deterritorialised field of markets, cultures, businesses and governments, nationalism represents a prioritisation of the health, territorial integrity, culture and self-interests of a particular nation.

Both have their strengths and shadows.

Globalisation has brought us unprecedented interconnectivity and flow of information, products, capital, and people. It has allowed the sharing of knowledge and technologies as well as increasing diversity and economic growth in our societies.

It has also resulted in major hegemonies of power, politically and economically. It has resulted in the erosion of cultural identity, massive wealth inequality, and significant threats to the global commons in terms of the destruction of ecosystems, human induced climate change, land degradation, deforestation, loss of bio-diversity and fears that a permanent shortage of water is on its way to afflict millions of the world’s most vulnerable.

Nationalism at its best preserves the unique cultural identity of a nation, as well as its individual economic, social and political interests. On the shadow side, it has the tendency to decline into xenophobic prejudice, populism, racism, bigotry, and far right separatism as can be seen in the rise of far-right leaders, parties and authoritarian regimes around the world over the last years.

Today, the problems associated with the shadow sides of both globalisation and nationalism have become a fundamental axis of the global meta-crisis. 

Indeed, they pervade the major issues of our time, from geopolitical conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war, to the global ecological crisis, to global wealth inequality, to tensions around global resource allocation and energy distribution.

In Singularity, we perceive each nation as a being that is the process of evolving, healing and awakening to its unique gift to bring to the global community. 

We agree with such great leaders and thinkers as Plato, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Rudolf Steiner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Vaclav Havel that at the root, every nation has a unique soul expression that wants to be expressed in service.

We’d add that as a counterpoint to this, every nation also has its own ego structure, complete with patterns, habits, shadows and traumas. 

And in its indigenous people - whether still part of the population or remembered in its history - we see those who have stayed deeply connected to the land of each nation, to its body.  

Our sense is that the only way through the current tension is the evolution, healing and awakening of each nation, so that rather than being caught between losing their identity or aggressively over emphasizing it, they connect with and integrate the unique virtues, gifts and service that they can bring to the whole. 

This requires each nation to grow in its capacity for self-reflection, to search for its soul, to humbly recognise its shadows and traumas, and to heal its connection to its indigenous peoples and past. All while evolving and healing its relationships with others nations.

And this calls for leadership that can pioneer such a process in each nation in a way that connects to the hearts and minds of its people.

This will be a key part of the leadership focus of Singularity’s national representatives.