“Identification with one’s own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations” – The definition of nationalism according to Dictionary.com.
According to Zakaria, nationalism is a relatively new phenomenon, with the basis of its origin coming into existence in the past 100-200 years. Today, more than ever, we are starting to see more and more countries with this nationalism mindset. Britain had their Brexit and the United States (some parts) want their wall. It appears as nations advance more and become more independent their overall nationalism also increases. The danger of this comes with the “me-first” mentality and I can understand the point some nations are giving. A leader, like Trump, wants to put his priority into his citizens, economy, and general well being. However, if not done in the right manner, this can be problematic. Trump began banning travelers from the middle east as well as pissing off China with tariffs. Actions like these can begin to stir up things on global scale and have repercussions that affect much more than the American people. A major downside to nationalism is the inability to tackle global issues in an affective manner. If 196 countries approach global warming in a different manner, nothing efficient or effective will get done unless everyone is on the same page.
Now onto El Salvador.
Nationalism is an interesting topic in El Salvador to say the least, but with recent election outcomes an increase may be on the way. With 88% of the country being a mix of indigenous native and european descent, there isn’t much to disagree about when it comes to race. When it comes to sports, football (soccer), brings the nation together as a whole, and even started a physical war with Honduras in 1969.
On the other hand, the country is riddled with gang violence that contributes to the astonishingly high murder rate of 82.84 homicides per 100,000. As a comparison the U.S. murder rate is 5.35 per 100,000 ( Murder Rate ). This violence may be a contribution to the 3.2 million Salvadorans living elsewhere, with the majority in the United States ( [1] ). My friend from El Salvador actually studies university in Mexico as she claims the opportunities are better abroad. Interestingly enough, officials and economists are worried about the “impact to the deportation of criminals” [2] after President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. The sudden surge will most definitely lead to an increase in crime as well as more competition for jobs. In a country where crime is an issue, adding even more criminals into the mix does anything, but help the problem. Only time will tell how this sudden influx of deportees affects the nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbmXsNmwIng
Quick video covering gang warfare in El Salvador.
“Over 25 percent of children below the age of 5 experience extreme poverty in El Salvador and 36 percent of the rural population lives in poverty” [3] . As the country begins to urbanize the rural communities are especially left out. Medicine and advancements in technology are centered around the cities and the rural communities are inadvertently left out of the benefits. The country is becoming more equal with a 5% decline in the Gini coefficient between 2007 and 2016 [4] Crime and corruption are currently El Salvador’s biggest barriers from seeing an substantial growth in the economy. The issue is that crime, violence, and corruption aren’t the most inviting when being looked at from a business standpoint. MS13, Mara Salvatrucha, is one of the most prominent gangs in the country and actually originated in Los Angeles. Various accounts of homicide, extortion, and terrorism can be contributed to the gang [5] . Besides these faults El Salvador has made strides in areas such as health care, water access, and most recently, education. President Elect Nayib Bukele is looking into ways to redistribute government funds to rebuild the legislative building, 50 new schools, and 14 new libraries in a push to further fortify the growing education system. This comes with backlash from the traditionalist and further solidifies his case for being the right candidate for the job. [6]
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