Nationhood and Identity: Community beyond the State?

Abstract

This chapter brings us to the third major component of the modern state as identified in Chapter 1: nationhood. Nationhood in the context of the modern state was defined as a people within a territory making up a community based on citizenship (including political, social, and economic rights and obligations), and on a ‘community of sentiment’ (meaning a common language and a common cultural and historical identity based on literature, myths, symbols, music and art; see Box 5.1). A unique feature of the modern state is the welding together of the state and the nation: the state is an expression of the nation, representing it and catering for its basic social values: security, freedom, order, justice and welfare. At the same time, citizenship is connected with a specific form of collective identity as the community of citizens also shares linguistic, cultural and historical bonds that distinguish it from other groups (though, as mentioned earlier, a nation in this sense is not necessarily based on a homogeneous ethno-national group of people).