Ideology and Identity: A National Outlook

Hopes for an international order and global peace seem shattered as we face the 21st century. The nation-state supported by the national outlook is not withering away. On the contrary, in the identity vacuum which followed the system collapse of Stalinism, new virulent forms of mini nationalisms and ethnic chauvinisms are observed. Clearly, peace research must devote more attention to the understanding of the ideological and identity components of the national outlook. The current studies contribute a step toward outlining the components of the national outlook. Phase 1 focused on components and structure of the US national outlook. 1867 US, international students, and domestic group respondents participated in the 60-item check-off survey. Few differences were found between groups, supporting the presence of a common national outlook with shared content and structure. In phase 2, 755 social science students from the USA, Bulgaria, Hungary and Norway responded to each of the 60 items on a five-point response category varying from completely meaningful (5) to completely meaningless (1). Differences in ratings by the samples were determined, and varimax rotated factor analyses were completed. The greatest overall differences were found, as predicted, between US and Bulgarian respondents, and the greatest similarities between US and Norwegian participants. Finally, the relationship of the national outlook to peace is discussed.