Thanks to the Axis powers of World War II, nationalism is closely associated with fascism. To many, any hint of nationalism is automatically branded as fascism, from advocating for secure borders to being tough on crime. But in more recent history, nationalism has been a force of good.

Today, people around the world, including in the US, accuse each other of having a “Cold War mentality.” But have they forgotten what ended the Cold War?

It was thanks to nationalism, which tore the Soviet Union apart. Yes, people frequent cite broken socialist policies that suffocated its economy. But that’s just the economic side.

The historical and political side was about nationalism, in addition to wanting freedom. Soviet citizens didn’t want to be part of a grand Soviet globalist communist experiment. Instead, they wanted the freedom to be Russians, Latvians, Estonians and whatever local nationality they identified with.

And before the critics get too excited, the world needs to understand that the Soviet Union isn’t the lone example. Communist Yugoslavia also fell apart because the Croatians, Bosnians, etc. wanted the freedom to identify with their own ethnic identity. Likewise, nationalism led the Czechs and the Slovaks to remove communism and then two years later, democratically split Czechoslovakia into two freedom-loving independent states.

Opposite of splitting communist nations, Nationalism can also unite nations into a force for good as well. Yes, Germans are hesitant to display nationalism due to their atrocities in World War II, but the politically incorrect truth is that one reason Communist East Germany got absorbed into West Germany because East Germans wanted the freedom to nationally identify as Germans, and again, not be a part of a global socialist tyrannical plot.

If the Cold War is too ancient, just look at the 21st century. ISIS, al-Qaeda, and lesser-known terrorist groups opposed nationalism in favor of a global Islamic caliphate. And like the Soviets, Iran remains an economic mess because its leaders remain too obsessed with spreading an disastrous ideology, which is radical Shia Islam, throughout the world rather instead of focusing on within via nationalism.

History has shown that nationalism can be bad. But even more recently, history has shown that nationalism can be a force for good too. And when combined with the desire for freedom, nationalism can bring down even the most entrenched tyrannical regimes with global ambitions.