Structural Comparison of Independent Movements.
Economic development and the nation building process in Belgium and Greek
Greek war of independence
Having served in the militia for some time,Georgios Karaiskakis recognized the oppression that was practiced by the Greece government. In this regard he formed the Greek war of independence in 1821 and became its leader in movement in order to give the Greek people more stable government. Another reason as to why Greek revolution was undertaken was to make Greek independent from the Turkish rule. It is worth noting that Greek came under the rule of Turks after Ottoman Empire took over the country following the collapse of the Byzantine rule. In their effort to gain independence, the Greeks formed several secret movements such as the Filiki Eteria, which was the first group to attack Ottoman Empire. However the revolts of this group were stopped by the Ottomans (Clair and William 1972).
Greek war for independence was funded by individuals who came from wealthy families. This is due to the fact that they were able to sacrifice their finance without putting much damage on their own economic situations. It is imperative to note that the war was fought by peasants who were armed with all forms of crude weapons including scythes, arrows and clubs. The growth of the economy in Greece was not very stable during its initial years after the infrastructural destruction that was experienced during the violence. In addition, after independence there was many political challenges which confronted the nation and which were not conducive for economic development. Language played a big role in the independence wars. Until the late years of the 19th century, Katharevousa language was the official language used in education, officially used in administration and literally works. Within the same time, Demotic language, was widely accepted and spoken within the region. Demotic gained even more acceptability. For instance in the 20th century, it was widely used as the basic mode of written literature. This eventually resulted to a conflict between the two languages especially in their application in the education sector. This conflict continued until the Greek military group which was referred to as junta was overthrown. Demotic language was officially declared the basic mode of communication in 1977. It was widely used in education and administration. Back in the 18th century however influential merchants emerged and they generated wealth which they used to build schools. Today Greece has emerged as one of the country with strongest economic performance with tourism as the major foreign exchange earner. The country has also been identified for having the most industrious people in Europe. On the other hand for almost two centuries Belgium was a technologically advanced country with strong industrial growth.
Nation building process in Greek
After independence Greek nation building process was very slow based on the fact after the fall of Ottoman Empire a lot of wealth was taken by Turkish during their rule. Similarly most of the Greeks were replaced by Armenians in the various economic sectors such as banking and in the manufacturing. This left the Greeks citizens with little disposable income and hence very low contribution in the nation building process.
The Nation of Belgium
In the first half of the 20th century the people of Belgium were mainly Rexists. It is during this time when they were fighting for the moral renewal of the Belgian society so that it could conform to the teachings of the bible. The Rexists supported Hitler and his Nazis and when Nazi in Germany fell so did the Rexists in Belgium. Today however, many of the people are either conservatives or socialists even though the land is surrounded by capitalist nations. The parliament consists of senate and the chamber of representatives. The compulsory voting policy ensures that every Belgian eligible to vote does so and therefore voting process records high turn outs. Belgium politics are based on the cultural orientation of the communities. From 2000 to 2007 the country managed to achieve economic and monetary goals to great extend. The government has also been involved in shaping democratic processes especially in young democracies like in Africa. The Belgium Federal State authority has jurisdiction in matters of law including justice system, military and home security systems like the federal police force and social security apparatus, energy and technology, monetary and economic policy among other important roles. There are several organizations and business entities that are controlled by the government but there also exists privately owned companies. The government has total authority in critical areas of public interest like public health systems, home affairs and international relations. In Belgium, there are geographically determined boundaries of regions that are based on peoples cultural orientation. These regions have authority in fields that can be broadly associated with their territory. Cultural and linguistic alignment is one of the determinants of the territorial boundaries, with people sharing the same cultural background inhabiting particular regions. Nevertheless, Belgium is a peaceful country with its people interacting freely with each other and with foreigners. The country is cohesive and political ideological forces are not based on culture or language but are shaped by both conservative and socialistic affiliation. It is therefore easier to entrench nationalism in a nation with a diverse culture by letting the people identify with the state which motivates them to pull in a particular direction.
Belgium nationalist movement
Belgium nationalist movement was as a result of the need to protect the culture, language and history of the Belgian people. This was after Dutch was declared a national language by William 1, who was the king of Netherlands during that time. The movement was organized by a number of nationalists, intellectuals as well as groups. Some of the nationalist included Philip Blommaert, Jan Frans Williems, August Snieders, Karel Lodewijk and Prudens van Duyse.An example of the group which was involved in the movement included Nationalists Students Union which was also referred to as Studentenvereniging.
Role of Elites in building Belgium
After independence, the Belgium elites declared that the national language was French. In this regard they ensured that communication in courts and in working places was all conducted in French. This was done in order to get rid of Dutch from the country. With the Capital city based in Brussels, the elites who were speaking in French occupied the city. This was where the government ministries were based and hence it resulted to creation of employment opportunities for most of the Belgium citizens. In this regard it is evident that the due to regular income that the citizens were exposed to, their purchasing power improved leading to an increase in demand and hence higher production of goods and services by the economy. The increased demand for goods resulted to an increase in number of industries which was a good indicator of national building process (Mama, 2008).
Political Comparison of Greek and Belgium colonial foreign policy and the desire for independence
Greek political ideology
After the London protocol the Greeks elected Loannis as their first governor of the independent republic. However, following his assassination in 1843 the king was forced to give the people a constitution and a representative assembly. The infighting between the king and the prime minister tore the country into two opposed factions during the First World War. In 1965 Greece experienced political turmoil after the king dismissed a protagonist of the centrist government this resulted to a coup that was aided by the American Government. In 1975 a new constitution was installed following a democratic referendum which abolished the monarchy. After the restoration of democracy in Greek, two-party system was dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy and the social-democratic Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement. Greece joined NATO in 1980 and was assimilated into the European communities in 1981. Since their joining the European Union, the countrys economic performance and international relations have changed for the better. This is despite the unions tight conditions which Greece had to comply with before being formally accepted. The membership has stabilized leading to more economic development as well as social and political development. There have been widespread improvements of the infrastructure as well as unprecedented rise of the standard of other sectors such as tourism and service-delivery sectors. The performance of the economy is good and it is expected to grow even further in the coming few years.
Political face of modern Belgium
The Belgian revolution of 1829 resulted to division based on religious inclination. These divisions were the catholic and the neutral Belgium. Belgium has had both constitutional monarchy and democratic system of governance since the ascension to power of king Leopold the first. The 19th century was characterized by religious forces that led to the formation of the catholic political party and the liberal forces lad to the formation of the liberal political party. Other parties also came into existence like the Belgium labor party which was formed in the last years of the century. In 1913 Belgium was invaded by Germany and the war spilled to their colonies in Africa. The conflict was resolved later by the League of Nations. Germany invaded the country again in 1940 and occupied it for the next five years when it was liberated through the intervention of its allies.
The constitution of Belgium was written and enacted into law in 1833 soon after the country gained independence from the kingdom of the Netherlands. Since 1831 when Belgium regained independence it legislative body comprises of both a democratic parliament and a constitutional monarchy. In the 19th century the catholic party and the liberal party were the dominant parties in Belgium until the emergence of the Belgian party. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It was also a founding member of the European community, an organization which is currently referred to as European Union. The country has a senate which has forty elected politicians and a chamber which has 21 members who are appointed by three community parliaments. The king is the head of state but has fewer duties assigned to him. He is responsible for appointing the prime minister who in turn forms the government after the approval by the chamber of representatives. The office of the king is constitutional and he is meant to hold the position for life thus making his or her position ceremonial and symbolic. The federal government is made up of the prime minister and the ministers and together they make the council of ministers. Besides these there are also the regional and community governments, the legislature as well as the provincial and local government.
Political and religious Ideology of Greek
The Greeks saw ottoman Turks as inferior and they were always nostalgic of the good old days of the ancient and glorious Greece and the more they thought of it the more they longed for it. They believed that it was their own orthodox Christians (the Russians) with power who would free them form Ottoman. Religious enlightenment and recognition played a big role in this ideology. Though the atrocities were committed on both sides the war was popular with the Christians and many foreign volunteers who even joined the war in support of Greece. The ideology of the Greek people today is Orthodox Christianity. After the fall of the Hellenistic Empire which had bred the Hellenistic rationality the orthodoxy Christianity was born. This ideology tries to rationalize Christianity.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussions, it is evident that independent movements in Greek and Belgium have played a key role in shaping national identity and the nation building processes. Basically, the two states were liberated from repressive colonial powers by revolutionaries through the political movements. However, even after democratic governments were later put in place there are several other challenges that have emerged and must be addressed. According to my view, governments should enhance nationalism by providing good leadership on social, economic and political fronts. In the same way politician high level of transparency should be emulated by political leaders. This can only be achieved by putting in place a proper constitution that provide checks and balances on the roles of leaders and which caters for the needs of the citizens. Although governments have played minimum roles in building early nationalism in the Greek and Belgium, it is very clear that to enhance nationalism further in a global society, Governments must get involved by formulating policies that are aligned to national objectivity and international sensitivity.
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