NATION. (OF. nacion, nation, from L. natic (-onis), birth, a race, people, from natus, pp. of nasci, to be born). The inhabitants of a country, ruled by the same government; the territory of that country; a group of persons who generally speak the same language and share some common history. Distinguished from ethnicity, which applies to persons of a single, common origin. The modern nation is often polyphonic. It is formed on the basis of the emergence of civil society in a given territory, and through a process of structuring the national market and cultures. Different nations may speak the same language (e.g. England, the United States, and Ireland; Germany and Austria; Spain and the Spanish-speaking Latin American nations; the Arab states, etc.).

The term "nation" in the modern sense appeared during the wars of independence of the English and Spanish colonies in the Americas and the French revolution. The United Nations has recognized the right of nations to self-determination, contributing to the dissolution of the colonial system and the appearance of over one hundred new nation states following the Second World War.

Universalist humanism (*) supports the claims to national cultural autonomy of groups of persons who regard themselves as a nation, as well as their right to receive education in their own language, and to the free use of their own language in relations with official institutions. At the same time, humanists call for the resolution of national conflicts through negotiation, without resort to violence, and to respect for borders recognized by the international community.

NATIONAL PROBLEMS. The complex of cultural, economic, juridical, social, and linguistic relationships established within a single or contiguous territory. Such problems exist among different ethno-religious groups that have their own national consciousness and defend their common interests in opposition to the interests of other collectivities.

In ancient and Medieval times, with the predominance of a natural economy, the intensity of relations between human beings belonging to different ethnic or religious groups was relatively weak, and compensated for by their subordination to one or another governing entity, which relied on extra-economic coercion as the principal method for preserving or extending its dominions which, as a general rule, were multiethnic and often multi-religious.

It is only in modern times, with the formation of national markets and the English and French revolutions, that the era of the nation state began, in which there tends to be a single dominant religion and language.

In this entity the concepts of "state" and "nation" merged definitively. With the breakup of the remnants of the Medieval empires in the aftermath of the First World War, the national principle was adopted in building European and Asian states, even those with multiethnic communities (Eastern Europe, the USSR, Turkey, China).

As a consequence of the victory over Fascism in the Second World War and the growth of national liberation movements on the continents of Asia and Africa as well as in the Caribbean and Oceania, the number of states worldwide has grown from around fifty to nearly two hundred. These new countries, the majority multiethnic, have also apparently adopted the form of the nation state (for example, India adopted this national criterion) along with the practice of recognizing borders inherited from the colonial era. This approach was used to minimize the dimensions of interethnic and inter-religious conflicts, although it was unable to eradicate them entirely.

The conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Pakistan, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi, Angola, the post-Soviet republics, etc. demonstrate how acute n.p. are in today’s world.

The current national conflicts are, in large measure, the result of colonialism in various manifestations under which colonial empires administered their territories by inciting one ethnic group against another. Currently, certain clans, groups, and communities want to preserve their privileges, while those suffering inequality or oppression are made use of by foreign powers, adventurist factions, and local insurgents to spread armed uprisings, terrorist actions, and generally suppress the emerging states and stifle their independence. In this way, n.p. have become one of the most pressing worldwide difficulties of our times.

The view of N.H is that universal human rights must take precedence over the exclusive values of any ethnic or religious group, clan, tribe, race, caste, or other social group. All citizens must have the same rights, independent of their ethnic, religious, or racial origin, or any other differences. Discrimination in a national context must be prohibited and such expressions eradicated. Those who are guilty of war crimes or acts of genocide or religious terrorism must be remanded to the appropriate international courts. It is important to eliminate these shameful legacies of colonialism and to create the conditions necessary for a decent life for all peoples of the world.

NATIONAL SOCIALISM. Name adopted by the old German Workers’ Party in Munich in 1920. The Nazi ideology (an apocope of National-sozialistische) is similar to that of right wing romantic authoritarianism, characteristic of Fascism (*). When Adolf Hitler became the leader of N.S., he instituted its ideology and anti-Semitic practice. N.S. is the clearest example of anti-humanist thought in modern times.

NATIONALISM. (See etymology at nation). Pertaining or relating to a nation. Doctrine and movement glorifying the national personality, or what its doctrine of political, economic, and/or cultural redress of grievances for oppressed nationalities.

Modern political science distinguishes the term national, which reflects the legitimate interests of each nation that are without prejudice to other nations, from nationalistic, in which the selfish interests and desires of oppressing strata are cloaked beneath "national interest," and which provokes conflicts with other nations. At its worst, n. can become chauvinism (*), in which the rights of other nations and oppressed national minorities are disregarded and violated.

N.H. supports the just demands of oppressed nations and ethnic groups, but opposes the exaggeration of national sentiments to the point that human rights are infringed, some people are turned against others on national, ethnic, or ethno-religious grounds, or the human dignity of other people is not respected. No one can violate the rights of a person or people by appealing to some supposed preeminence of national interests.

NEOCOLONIALISM (New Colonialism). Nuevo Colonialismo)] See etymology at colonialism). Second wave of colonialism (*) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During that period countries such as Belgium, the United States, Italy, Japan, and Russia followed the process initiated in the fifteenth century by some European powers. The difference between n. and imperialism (*) is currently the subject of debate. N.H. characterizes n. as late colonialism, reserving the designation "imperialism" for activities of domination exercised by superpowers or powers with global aspirations. In recent decades we have seen the emergence of a neocolonial strategy in which countries that are formally independent find themselves subject to the fluctuations of a "free" market in fact dominated by the great powers.

NEOHUMANISM. See New Humanism (*).

NEOLIBERALISM (New Liberalism). (See etymology at Liberalism). Progressive social reforms of liberal governments after 1908. Its principal exponents were David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Present-day n. admits many variants, running from completely unrestricted open markets, the extreme submission to so-called "natural" laws of supply and demand, and the crassest monetarism, to some degree of interventionism, including subsidies for national production, the stimulus of public spending, and alignment of the economy toward certain areas of production. Theoreticians of n. are currently arguing for the need to discipline societies by eliminating the benefits and entitlements of social security, health care, free education, and unemployment benefits, and without generating new sources of employment. These cuts in public spending and massive layoffs are accompanied by increasingly authoritarian measures. At the same time, practitioners of n. are attempting to enmesh all of society in a system of indebtedness involving usurious rates of interest. N. is currently the best tool available to imperialist penetration in its task of eliminating the national state.

NEW HUMANISM. Representatives of this movement have a clearly defined position in relation to the current historical moment (*). For them it is indispensable to construct a humanism that will contribute to the improvement of life, that will confront discrimination, fanaticism, exploitation, and violence. In a world that is rapidly becoming globalized and showing signs of intensifying collisions between cultures, ethnic groups, and regions, participants in N.H. propose a universal humanism (*) that is both plural and convergent; in a world in which countries, institutions, and human relations are becoming destructured, fragmented, they work for a humanism capable of rebuilding social forces; in a world in which the meaning and direction of life have been lost, they emphasize the need for a humanism capable of creating a new atmosphere of reflection, in which the personal will no longer be irrevocably opposed to the social nor the social opposed to the personal. These exponents, interpreters, and militants encourage a creative humanism, not a repetitive humanism; a humanism that, aware of the paradoxes of the times, aspires to resolve them.

N.H. favors the modification of the schema or framework of power for the purpose of transforming the present social structure, which is rapidly becoming a closed system (*planetarization) in which the practical attitudes and theoretical "values" of anti-humanism (*) increasingly predominate.

NEW LEFT. Designation of the array of groups of heterogeneous philosophical ideas and political orientations which emerged in the decades of the sixties and seventies of the twentieth century. It is made up primarily of students and intellectuals along with an influx of the "new poor."

These groups are critical of social inequality, the crushing of the personality, and the growing exploitation, consumerism, and moral decadence that characterize the developed countries. At the same time, they criticize the Communists for their bureaucratization, anti-humanism, and corruption.

One sector of the N.L. has embraced the methods of violence and practiced terrorism. Other groups have deviated toward nationalism, racism, or religious fundamentalism, some even allying themselves with neo-Nazi groups.

Another part of the N.L. has sought a way out of the global crisis through a resurgent anarchism (*). Still other groups have joined socialist and social-democratic parties, while others have joined environmental, feminist, and youth movements and organizations.

NEW ORDER. (AS. niwe, neowe, new; L. novus, Gr. neos, Sans. navas, new. Order: ME. and OFr. ordre, from L. ordo, ordinis, a straight row, a regular series; from root or, seen in oriri, to rise). 1) Hitlerian expression referring to an economically and politically centralized Europe under the control of Germany. 2) In the form "New World Order" this expression came into vogue during the presidency of Ronald Reagan; refers to the organization of international relations on the basis of an economic model and military hegemony imposed by the United States. 3) New International Economic Order. Position advanced by the developing countries (*). Some of the measures proposed are the following: _national sovereignty over natural resources; reducing the disparity between the price of raw materials and manufactured products; regulation of international prices of raw materials; broadening of preferences in trade relationships with developed countries; normalization of the international monetary system; stimulating export of industrial products from developing countries.

NEW POOR. (AS. niwe, neowe, new; L. novus, Gr. neos, Sans. navas, new. Poor: OFr. poure, povre; Fr. pauvre, from L. pauper, poor). Category of workers forming as a result of the economic restructuring and downsizing brought about by the scientific-technical revolution. It is made up of employees, technicians, skilled workers, and others who cannot find employment; recent graduates without jobs; bankrupt farmers; those who live in areas that industry has left; retirees whose pensions have fallen below the poverty level, etc. The majority of the n.p. quickly lose access to benefits and services for the unemployed.

The n.p. frequently find themselves forced to work as day-laborers or part-time workers, without benefits or labor contracts.

To combat this growing "technological poverty," N.H. stresses the need to create an international retraining system, to contribute to the de-nationalization and decentralization of the economy, transferring resources to the municipal and community levels and creating new centers for training, employment, recreation, and culture.

NEW RIGHT. Ideological and political current that emerged in the developed countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Initially it included groups of leftist intellectuals disillusioned and disoriented by the collapse of the myth of the supposedly imminent worldwide triumph of Communism. These intellectuals underwent a transformation from communism to traditionalism because, though these currents may seem incompatible, certain conventions of behavior, aesthetic tastes, and the culture of violence in both currents are in fact quite closely related. Subsequently, a number of philo-fascist ideologues joined this movement, hoping in this way to legitimize before public opinion their neo-pagan concepts and thus win recruits among the young.

The N.R. condemns the hypocrisy and other vices of contemporary civilization, criticizes its "mass culture" and its "denationalization". The N.R. appeals to so-called "race values" and to the more primitive and zoological instincts; it glorifies ethnocentrism and racism; and it cultivates hatred, xenophobia, and violence.

The social base of this movement is made up of certain groups of intellectuals and students, especially in the technical and teaching professions, the middle strata who are reeling from industrial and technical restructuring and downsizing, and professional soldiers alarmed at the prospect of disarmament and the reductions in armed forces following the end of the Cold War.

N.H. struggles against the fundamentalist, chauvinist, and racist thought of the N.R., which today represents the principal danger in the ideological and political sphere as the breeding ground of ethno-religious conflicts and local wars and of the type of the professional assassin drawn to such wars.

NGOs form the foundation and structure of civil society, the basis of democratic regimes. Today these organizations are principally dedicated to the protection of the environment, charitable works, the defense of human rights, contributing to the settlement of social and ethno-religious conflicts, disarmament, and the search for solutions to the global crisis looming over humankind. Due to the active participation of scientists and professionals, the intellectual potential of such organizations is significant.

The 1945 United Nations conference in San Francisco established in Article 71 of the UN charter that nongovernmental organizations would advise the Economic and Social Council on problems that lay within the province of their expertise. In 1950 the Conference of Nongovernmental Consultative Organizations was instituted, comprising three categories, which maintain permanent contacts with the corresponding committee of UNESCO.

A conference is held every three years at which an executive committee is elected, with the organization’s offices in New York and Geneva, Switzerland. Various nongovernmental organizations cooperate with specialized organizations of the UN. Thus, subsequent to its creation in Florence, Italy in May 1950, the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organizations had been authorized by UNESCO to participate in the Benefit for Consultative Agencies. It meets every other year in Paris, France, where it is headquartered.

NEW SURPASSING THE OLD. A general tendency in the development of living structures, society, and human consciousness. If life is viewed not as an isolated and singular occurrence but as a step of greater complexity in the structure of nature, then the universe itself can be seen as developing in an irreversible process, a direction (following the arrow of time), in which structures, which begin simply, tend to go beyond or surpass their initial state and conditions, interacting, forming new groupings and arrangements, in short, gaining a complexity that is greater than they had in the previous moment. On the other hand, if life is viewed as an isolated event and the universe, too, as simply another singular phenomenon, then it is not possible to speak of a general tendency in which the new surpasses the old; at the same time such a view renders general science impossible (there is no science of the singular and non-repeatable). Both the cosmologies and biology of preceding times chose to imagine a universe that tended to lose available energy and order. In this way, instances of organization of increasing complexity were seen as singular cases, as accidents, as chance phenomena.

For N.H., the n.s.o. is a general tendency of universal development. In the case of society, this tendency is expressed in the generational dialectic, in which the new generations (*generations) gradually prevail over the former; in the consciousness it is expressed in the temporal dialectic in which future time has primacy; in history it is expressed as the surpassing of the present moment by other, more complex periods, which advance irreversibly toward the future. It is in the destructuring (*) of any system that the rupture in which the new surpasses the old can be observed. In this process, the most progressive elements of the previous stage are incorporated into the new evolutionary step, and those elements that do not adapt to the changing conditions are left behind.

NIHILISM. (from L. nihil, nothing; ne, not, and hilum, a little thing, a trifle). 1) Systematic negation of life. 2) Negation of humanist values. 3) Anti-humanism.

This term was first used by Turgenev in his 1862 novel Fathers and Sons. The term "nihilists" referred to the violent activities of a Russian revolutionary society that had just published a manifesto following the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881.

NON-VIOLENCE. (from L. non, not, and violence: L. violentia, from violens (-entis), violent). Generally refers to some or all of the following: a system of moral concepts that disavows violence; the mass movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in India in the first part of the twentieth century; the struggle for civil rights by African-Americans in the United States under the leadership of Martin Luther King; and the activities carried out by Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The activities of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov, S. Kovalev, and other famous dissidents opposed to Soviet totalitarianism are often included as well.

The idea of n-v. is expounded in the Bible and the writings of other religions in the exhortation not to kill. This idea has been developed by numerous thinkers and philosophers; Russian authors Leo Tolstoy and Feodor Dostoevski expressed it in profound formulations. Tolstoy’s formula proclaiming the supremacy of love and the "non-use of violence against evil," or better, the impossibility of fighting one evil with another, found worldwide resonance, inspiring a somewhat singular sect of "Tolstoyists."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) formulated the ethic of n-v. in his own way, basing it on the principle of ahimsa (the refusal to use any form of violence against the individual, nature, even insects or plants) and on the "law of passive resistance." Gandhi was able to organize an anti-colonial movement uniting many millions of people, which employed Satyagraha, a method of non-violence. This was expressed in massive and sustained civil disobedience against and noncooperation with the British authorities, reaffirming Indian identity and freedom, but without recourse to violent methods. The people called Gandhi Mahatma ("Great Soul") for his courage and unyielding adherence to the principle of n-v. This non-violent movement prepared the ground for Great Britain to renounce its supremacy in India, though Gandhi himself was killed by a paid assassin. Unfortunately, following this the principle of ahimsa was completely forgotten, and the subsequent political process in India and Pakistan was accompanied by great bloodshed and unrestrained violence.

The struggle of Martin Luther King also ended without fully achieving its objectives, as he, too, was assassinated while preparing to speak at a mass meeting.

Nonetheless, the concept of n-v., including non-violent forms of protest, continues to be a vital, evolving force in the world. Daily mass actions by lower strata of workers, meetings and protest demonstrations, strikes, womens’ and student movements, farmworker and peasant demonstrations, leaflets, neighborhood newspapers and periodicals, appearances on radio and TV, all these constitute the contemporary forms of the ethic and practice of n-v.

N.H. strives to reduce violence to the greatest extent possible, to move completely beyond it in perspective, and to set in motion all methods and forms of bringing resolution to conflicts and opposing sides along the path of creative n-v.

N-V. is frequently equated with pacifism (*), when in reality the latter is neither a method of action nor a style of life but rather a sustained protest against war and the arms race.

NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs). International, national, and local organizations created through citizen initiative, with extra-governmental objectives of a social, political, religious, cultural, scientific, sporting, recreational, or other nature.

NORTH-SOUTH (Problem of Relations). Term used to characterize relations between the industrialized, technologically developed countries (the North) and those countries in the process of developing , for the most part concentrated in the southern hemisphere (the South). To a certain degree the term South also includes countries of Asia, with the exception of Japan, South Korea, and a few other Asian countries such as Singapore. Thus, this problem can be interpreted as a problem of unjust relations, dependency (*), and exploitation between the center and peripheral areas.

The injustice of these relations was recognized by the General Assembly of the UN in a special resolution in 1974. Since the Paris Conference (1975-1977) and the Cancún meeting (1981), a permanent dialogue has been conducted between official representatives of these two groups of countries. Within the framework of the UN and its specialized institutions, certain mechanisms were created to compensate, if only minimally, for this injustice, and to contribute to the socioeconomic and cultural development of those countries in the process of development, with at least one percent of the domestic product of the developed countries to be dedicated to this purpose. But the arms race, local conflicts, and growth in unemployment have not permitted the attainment of even this modest objective, not to mention the urgent need to restructure international economic relations to eliminate factors of injustice that continue to hinder the development of the South.

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We invite everyone to participate with us in putting into practice the moral principle that says: "Treat others as you would like to be treated."
More information:
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