Journal of Southeast Asian History

Table of Contents - 1963 - Volume 4, Issue 01  

Research Article

The Uniqueness of Philippine Nationalism

R. S. Milne

This article is intended as a ‘footnote’, written from the political science point of view, to more comprehensive accounts of the subject. Its main concern is to underline some respects in which Philippine nationalism is atypical in Southeast Asia. It is not proposed to define nationalism. Many definitions seem to fall into one of two groups, the unsatisfyingly general or the (still unsatisfying)determinedly specific. An example of the former is that nationalism consists in “on one side the love of a common soil, race, language or historical culture…” This immediately prompts the question, “which soil, which race etc.”? The latter group is exemplified by the definition of Karl W. Deutsch, which is based on the existence of “complementary habits and facilities of communication.”

R.S. Milne is Professor of Political Science at the University of Singapore.