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	[[Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple.jpg|thumb|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[politics]] series.<br><small>Illustration:''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'' (1831, detail) by [[Eugène Delacroix]].</small>]]		[[Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple.jpg|thumb|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[politics]] series.<br><small>Illustration:''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'' (1831, detail) by [[Eugène Delacroix]].</small>]]
	{{Template}}		{{Template}}
		+	A '''nation''' is a stable [[community]] of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common [[culture]]. A nation is distinct from a [[people]], and is more abstract, and more overtly political than an [[ethnic group]]. It is a cultural-political community that has become conscious of its autonomy, unity, and particular interests.
-	A '''''nation''''' is a [[group]] of [[people]] sharing aspects of [[language]], [[culture]] and/or [[ethnicity]]. It historically constitutes a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a [[common language]], [[territory]], economic life, and [[psychological]] make-up manifested in a [[common culture]].	+	[[Black's Law Dictionary]] defines a nation as:
-	==National stereotyps==	+	:A people, or aggregation of men, existing in the form of an organized jural society, usually inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth, speaking the same language, using the same customs, possessing historic continuity, and distinguished from other like groups by their racial origin and characteristics, and generally, but not necessarily, living under the same government and [[sovereignty]].
-	==''What is a Nation?''==	+
-	The ''[[What is a Nation?]]'' essay by French historian [[Ernst Renan]] (1823–1892) is known for the statement that [[nation]]s are based as much on what the people jointly [[forget]], as what they [[remember]]. It is frequently quoted or anthologized in works of history or political science pertaining to [[nationalism]].	+
		+	[[Ernest Renan]]'s ''[[What is a Nation?]]'' (1882) declares that "race is confused with nation and a sovereignty analogous to that of really existing peoples is attributed to ethnographic or, rather linguistic groups", and "The truth is that there is no pure race and that to make politics depend upon ethnographic analysis is to surrender it to a chimera", echoing a sentiment of [[civic nationalism]]. He also claims that a nation is not formed on the basis of [[dynasty]], [[language]], [[religion]], [[geography]], or [[National interest|shared interests]]. Rather, "A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form", emphasizing the [[Democracy|democratic]] and [[History|historical]] aspects of what constitutes a nation, although, "Forgetting, I would even go so far as to say historical error, is a crucial factor in the creation of a nation". "A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity", which he said is reaffirmed in a "daily [[Referendum|plebiscite]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html |title=What is a Nation? |last=Renan |first=Ernest |website=web.archive.org |publisher=Internet Wayback Machine |accessdate=27 March 2017 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827065548/http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html |archivedate=27 August 2011 |df= }}</ref>
		+
		+	The nation has been described by [[Benedict Anderson]] as an "[[Imagined communities|imagined community]]"<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Benedict | title=Imagined Communities |publisher= Verso Publications |location= London |year=1983}}</ref> and by [[Paul James (academic)|Paul James]] as an "abstract community".<ref>{{cite book|last=James |first=Paul | title=Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0761950737 |publisher= Sage Publications |location= London |year=1996 |isbn= 0-7619-5072-9 | page=34 'A nation is at once an objectively abstract society of strangers, usually connected by a state, and a subjectively embodied community whose members experience themselves as an integrated group of compatriots.'}}</ref> It is an imagined community in the sense that the material conditions exist for imagining extended and shared connections. It is an abstract community in the sense that it is objectively impersonal, even if each individual in the nation experiences him or herself as subjectively part of an embodied unity with others. For the most part, members of a nation remain strangers to each other and will never likely meet.<ref>{{cite book |last= James |first= Paul|authorlink= Paul James (academic) |title=Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In |url=https://www.academia.edu/1642214/Globalism_Nationalism_Tribalism_Bringing_Theory_Back_In_author_Sage_Publications_London_2006 |date=2006 |publisher= Sage Publications |location=London }}</ref> Hence the phrase, "a nation of strangers" used by such writers as [[Vance Packard]]. According to [[Homi K. Bhabha]] nation is an ambivalent construction.It is a cultural determinant.It is something between a concept and object because there is a geography and at the same time a mental image of nation.
		+
		+	==Etymology and terminology==
		+	The word ''nation'' came to English from the [[Old French]] word ''nacion'' – meaning "birth" (''naissance''), "place of origin" -, which in turn originates from the [[Latin language|Latin]] word ''[[wikt:Special:Search/natio|natio]]'' (''nātĭō'') literally meaning "birth".<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nation |title=Nation |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |accessdate=5 June 2011}}.</ref>
		+
		+	The word "nation" is sometimes used as synonym for:
		+	* [[State (polity)]] or [[sovereign state]]: a government which controls a specific territory, which may or may not be associated with any particular ethnic group
		+	* [[Country]]: a geographic territory, which may or may not have an affiliation with a government or ethnic group
		+
		+	Thus the phrase "nations of the world" could be referring to the top-level governments (as in the name for the [[United Nations]]), various large geographical territories, or various large ethnic groups of the planet.
		+
		+	Depending on the meaning of "nation" used, the term "[[nation state]]" could be used to distinguish larger states from small [[city state]]s, or could be used to distinguish [[multinational state]]s from those with a single ethnic group.
		+
		+	==Medieval nations==
		+	In her book ''Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300'', [[Susan Reynolds]] argues that many European medieval kingdoms were nations in the modern sense except that political participation in nationalism was available only to a limited prosperous and literate class.<ref>Susan Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300, Oxford, 1997.</ref> In his book ''The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism'', [[Adrian Hastings]] argues that England's Anglo Saxon kings mobilized mass nationalism in their struggle to repel Norse invasions. Hastings argues that [[Alfred the Great]], in particular, drew on [[biblical nationalism]], using biblical language in his law code and that during his reign selected books of the Bible were translated into [[Old English]] to inspire Englishmen to fight to turn back the Norse invaders. Hastings argues for a strong renewal of English nationalism (following a hiatus after the [[Norman conquest]]) beginning with the [[Wycliffe's Bible|translation of the complete bible into English by the Wycliffe circle in the 1380s]], arguing that [[English nationalism]] and the English nation have been continuous since that time.<ref>Adrian Hastings, The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997</ref>
		+
		+	Another prudent example of Medieval nationalism is the [[Declaration of Arbroath]], a document produced by Scottish nobles and clergy during the [[Scottish Wars of Independence]]. The purpose of the document was to demonstrate to the Pope that Scotland was indeed a nation of its own, with its own unique culture, history and language and that it was indeed an older nation than England. The document went on to justify the actions of [[Robert the Bruce]] and his forces in resisting the occupation and to chastise the English for having violated Scottish sovereignty without justification. The propaganda campaign supplemented a military campaign on the part of the Bruce, which after the [[Battle of Bannockburn]] was successful and eventually resulted in the end of England's occupation and recognition of Scottish independence on the part of the English crown. The document is widely seen as an early example of both [[Scottish nationalism]] and [[popular sovereignty]].
		+
		+	[[Anthony Kaldellis]] affirms in ''Hellenism in Byzantium'' (2008) that what is called the [[Byzantine Empire]] was the Roman Empire transformed into a [[nation-state]] in Middle Ages.
		+
		+	Azar Gat is among the scholars who argue that [[China]], [[Korea]] and [[Japan]] were nations by the time of the European Middle Ages.<ref>Azar Gat, ''Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Ethnicity and Nationalism'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2013, China, p. 93 Korea, p. 104 and Japan p., 105.</ref>
		+
		+	===Use of term ''nationes'' by medieval universities and other medieval institutions===
		+	{{main article| Nation (university)}}
		+	A significant early use of the term ''nation'', as ''natio'', occurred at [[Medieval university|Medieval universities]]<ref>''see: [[nation (university)]]''</ref> to describe the colleagues in a college or students, above all at the [[University of Paris]], who were all born within a ''pays'', spoke the same language and expected to be ruled by their own familiar law. In 1383 and 1384, while studying theology at Paris, [[Jean Gerson]] was elected twice as a procurator for the French ''natio''. The [[Charles University in Prague|University of Prague]] adopted the division of students into ''nationes'': from its opening in 1349 the ''[[studium generale]]'' which consisted of Bohemian, Bavarian, Saxon and Silesian ''nations''.
		+
		+	In a similar way, the ''nationes'' were segregated by the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem]], who maintained at [[Rhodes]] the hostels from which they took their name "where foreigners eat and have their places of meeting, each nation apart from the others, and a Knight has charge of each one of these hostels, and provides for the necessities of the inmates according to their religion", as the Spanish traveller [[Pedro Tafur]] noted in 1436.<ref>Pedro Tafur, ''[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/tafur.html#ch5 Andanças e viajes]''.</ref>
		+
		+	==Early modern nations==
		+	{{See also|Nation state}}
		+	In his article, "The Mosaic Moment: An Early Modernist Critique of the Modernist Theory of Nationalism", [[Philip S. Gorski]] argues that the first modern nation was the [[Dutch Republic]], created by a fully modern political nationalism rooted in the model of [[biblical nationalism]].<ref>Philip S. Gorski, "The Mosaic Moment: An Early Modernist Critique of the Modernist Theory of Nationalism", American Journal of Sociology 105:5 (2000), pp. 1428–68.[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3003771?uid=3739256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103778558453]</ref> In a 2013 article "Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states", [[Diana Muir|Diana Muir Appelbaum]] expands Gorski's argument to apply to a series of new, Protestant, sixteenth-century nation states.<ref>Diana Muir Appelbaum, Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states, ''National Identities'', 2013, [https://www.academia.edu/4879193/Biblical_Nationalism_and_the_Sixteenth_Century_States]</ref> A similar, albeit broader, argument was made by [[Anthony D. Smith]] in his books, ''Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity'' and ''Myths and Memories of the Nation''.<ref>Anthony D. Smith, Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Myths and Memories of the Nation (Oxford University Press, 1999).</ref>
		+
		+	In her book ''Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity'', [[Liah Greenfeld]] argued that nationalism was invented in England by 1600. According to Greenfeld, England was “the first nation in the world".<ref>Steven Guilbert, The Making of English National Identity, http://www.cercles.com/review/R12/kumar7.htm</ref><ref>Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity, Harvard University Press, 1992.</ref>
		+
		+	==Social science==
		+	In the late 20th century, many social scientists argued that there were two types of nations, the [[civic nation]] of which France was the principal example and the [[ethnic nationalism|ethnic nation]] exemplified by the German peoples. The German tradition was conceptualized as originating with early 19th-century philosophers, like [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]], and referred to people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history, and [[ethnic origins]], that differentiate them from people of other nations.<ref name=Noiriel>{{cite book|last=Noiriel|first=Gérard|title=Population, immigration et identité national en France:XIX-XX Siècle.|date=1992|publisher=Hachette|isbn=2010166779}}</ref> On the other hand, the civic nation was traced to the [[French Revolution]] and ideas deriving from 18th-century French philosophers. It was understood as being centered in a willingness to "live together", this producing a nation that results from an act of affirmation.<ref>[[Rogers Brubaker]], Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany, Harvard University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-674-13178-1}}</ref> This is the vision, among others, of [[Ernest Renan]].<ref name=Noiriel />
		+
		+	Present day analysis tend to be based in socio-historical studies about the building of [[national identity]] sentiments, trying to identify the individual and collective mechanisms, either conscient or non-conscient, intended or un-intended. According to some of these studies, it seems that the [[State (polity)|State]] often plays a significant role, and communications, particularly of economic content, also have a high significance.<ref name=Noiriel />
		+
		+	==Black nationalism==
		+	{{See also|African diaspora}}
		+	The 18th century brought an alteration to the meaning of the term "nation", which became more narrowly referred to as a group with a recognizable and sovereign government with physical borders. This new definition aligns more with the concept of a nation-state.<ref>Bauböck, Rainer, and Thomas Faist. Diaspora and Transnationalism: Concepts, Theories and Methods. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010. Print.</ref> The nation began to emerge in the late 18th century as the leading form of government and social organization.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Manning| first1 = Patrick| author1-link = Patrick Manning (professor)| title = The African Diaspora: A History through Culture| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z013mXynh1wC| series = Columbia studies in international and global history| publisher = Columbia University Press| publication-date = 2013| page = np| isbn = 9780231513555| accessdate = 2014-01-02| quote = The nation began to emerge, in the late eighteenth century, as the leading form of government and social organization.}}</ref> In the Americas, the catalyst that brought about this change in meaning was the influence of the African diaspora and its people in other states.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} National identity brought rights to vote, to hold office, and independence for a growing number of black territories held under colonial rule.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Manning| first1 = Patrick| author1-link = Patrick Manning (professor)| title = The African Diaspora: A History through Culture| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z013mXynh1wC| series = Columbia studies in international and global history| publisher = Columbia University Press| publication-date = 2013| page = np| isbn = 9780231513555| accessdate = 2014-01-02| quote = Haiti and Liberia stand out as early black nations; the United States and Brazil stand out as early, multicultural nations with large black populations. Nationhood came gradually to all black people. National identity brought rights to vote, to hold office, and independence for a growing number of black territories held under colonial rule.}}</ref>
		+
		+	This change occurred in the New World as Africans were brought as enslaved peoples.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} The white population of the New World considered these aliens to be in one category of nation that was based entirely on color and continent of origin. The identity of the enslaved at the time was then shaped by their skin color rather than what nation or tribe they truly originated from. Prior to the 18th and 19th centuries, the term mainly referred to a group of people unified by language, region and cultural background; what is now considered to be one's ethnicity. It was through the process of emancipation and the end of the slave trade that the concept of nation began to change. As the previously enslaved began to fight for rights they had to discover what kind of rights they were searching for. It was in this process of emancipation that nationality began to take on a different meaning. Language and cultural background were no longer the only requirements of nation. Instead, now the idea of an established government and physical boundaries also shaped what it meant to be a nation.<ref>Manning, Patrick. The African Diaspora: A History through Culture. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. Print.</ref>
		+
		+	However, within the diaspora, particularly among groups that have been politicized, the term ''nation'' has been used to describe a more abstract national experience, one that transcends physical borders and language differences. This description of nation is pinned to the shared experience of being radicalized and termed as Black. The expansion of [[Black nationalism]] demonstrates that although some expanded the view that nation requires definable boundaries, those who shared the experience of the diaspora also found a nationality among themselves.
		+
		+	==Debate about a potential evolution or end of nations==
		+	{{See also|Clash of Civilizations|City-state|Virtual community|Tribe (Internet)|Global citizenship|Geographic mobility|Transnationalism|Geo-fence|Decentralization|Collective problem solving|Sociocultural evolution}}
		+	There is an ongoing debate about the future of nations − about whether this framework will persist as is and whether there are viable or developing alternatives.<ref name=news/>
		+
		+	[[Postnationalism]] is the process or trend by which nation states and national identities lose their importance relative to supranational and global entities. Several factors contribute to its aspects including [[economic globalization]], a rise in importance of [[multinational corporation]]s, the internationalization of financial markets, the transfer of [[socio-political power]] from national authorities to supernational entities, such as multinational corporations, the [[United Nations]] and the [[European Union]] and the advent of new information and culture technologies such as the [[Internet]]. However attachment to citizenship and [[national identities]] often remains important.<ref>R. Koopmans and P. Statham; "Challenging the liberal nation-state? Postnationalism, multiculturalism, and the collective claims making of migrants and ethnic minorities in Britain and Germany"; ''American Journal of Sociology'' 105:652–96 (1999)</ref><ref>R.A. Hackenberg and R.R. Alvarez; "Close-ups of postnationalism: Reports from the US-Mexico borderlands"; ''Human Organization'' 60:97–104 (2001)</ref><ref>I. Bloemraad; "Who claims dual citizenship? The limits of postnationalism, the possibilities of transnationalism, and the persistence of traditional citizenship"; ''International Migration Review'' 38:389–426 (2004)</ref>
		+
		+	Transnational communities are social groups that emerge from mutual interaction and shared culture across national boundaries, oriented around a common project − such as the solving of a [[global issue]] − or 'imagined' identity.<ref>{{cite web|title=Transnational Communities|url=http://www.newinstitutionalism.org/kos/WNetz?art=File.download&id=4502|accessdate=10 May 2017}}</ref>
		+
		+	Humans like being around people like themselves.<ref name=news/> Other types of [[Local community|local communities]] − such as cities − might gain identity, influence and relevance as well as see increased sociocultural identification.
		+
		+	Jan Zielonka of the University of Oxford states that "the future structure and exercise of political power will resemble the medieval model more than the Westphalian one" with the latter being about "concentration of power, sovereignty and clear-cut identity" and [[neo-medievalism]] meaining "overlapping authorities, divided sovereignty, multiple identities and governing institutions, and fuzzy borders".<ref name=news/>
		+
		+	In the view of [[Ian Goldin]], head of the Oxford Martin School, which analyses global problems, such networks must emerge. He quotes Slaughter, saying "Networked problems require a networked response" and states that existing institutions such as the World Bank and UN agencies are structurally unable to deal with problems emerging from global interconnectivity, such as [[Global financial crisis|economic instability]], [[pandemics]], [[climate change]] and [[cybersecurity]].<ref name=news/>
		+
		+	For a society to survive, its [[collective behaviour]] must be as complex as the challenges it faces and national agendas seem to repeatedly trump the global good in such vital matters.<ref name=news>{{cite web|title=End of nations: Is there an alternative to countries?|url=http://mpc-journal.org/blog/2016/11/09/end-of-nations-is-there-an-alternative-to-countries/|publisher=New Scientist|accessdate=10 May 2017}}</ref><br/>
		+	As both city or regional administrations<ref name=news/> and cooperation on the international level often prove to be more effective in solving critical issues than traditional models and as identities of transnational or nation-separate cultures develop the framework of nations might change, be extended or even be somewhat abolished.
	== See also ==		== See also ==
	*[[Volksgeist]]		*[[Volksgeist]]
Line 23:		Line 87:
	*[[National stereotype]]s		*[[National stereotype]]s
	*[[National trauma]]		*[[National trauma]]
		+
	==See also==		==See also==
	* [[Citizenship]]		* [[Citizenship]]
Line 37:		Line 102:
	* [[National god]]		* [[National god]]
	* [[National memory]]		* [[National memory]]
-	* [[National myth]]
	* [[Nationalism]]		* [[Nationalism]]
	* [[Nationality]]		* [[Nationality]]
Line 48:		Line 112:
	* [[Stateless nation]]		* [[Stateless nation]]
	* [[Tribe]]		* [[Tribe]]
-	* [[United Nations]]
	{{GFDL}}		{{GFDL}}

---

Revision as of 12:20, 17 February 2018

In "What is a Nation?" Ernest Renan states what has become one of the most famous and enduring ideas of nationalism. "Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation." "What’s heaven? Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the bankers are Swiss. So then, what’s hell? Hell is where the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the bankers are Italian." [...]

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

A nation is a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture. A nation is distinct from a people, and is more abstract, and more overtly political than an ethnic group. It is a cultural-political community that has become conscious of its autonomy, unity, and particular interests.

Black's Law Dictionary defines a nation as:

A people, or aggregation of men, existing in the form of an organized jural society, usually inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth, speaking the same language, using the same customs, possessing historic continuity, and distinguished from other like groups by their racial origin and characteristics, and generally, but not necessarily, living under the same government and sovereignty.

Ernest Renan's What is a Nation? (1882) declares that "race is confused with nation and a sovereignty analogous to that of really existing peoples is attributed to ethnographic or, rather linguistic groups", and "The truth is that there is no pure race and that to make politics depend upon ethnographic analysis is to surrender it to a chimera", echoing a sentiment of civic nationalism. He also claims that a nation is not formed on the basis of dynasty, language, religion, geography, or shared interests. Rather, "A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which in truth are but one, constitute this soul or spiritual principle. One lies in the past, one in the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present-day consent, the desire to live together, the will to perpetuate the value of the heritage that one has received in an undivided form", emphasizing the democratic and historical aspects of what constitutes a nation, although, "Forgetting, I would even go so far as to say historical error, is a crucial factor in the creation of a nation". "A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity", which he said is reaffirmed in a "daily plebiscite".<ref>{{

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The nation has been described by Benedict Anderson as an "imagined community"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and by Paul James as an "abstract community".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is an imagined community in the sense that the material conditions exist for imagining extended and shared connections. It is an abstract community in the sense that it is objectively impersonal, even if each individual in the nation experiences him or herself as subjectively part of an embodied unity with others. For the most part, members of a nation remain strangers to each other and will never likely meet.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Hence the phrase, "a nation of strangers" used by such writers as Vance Packard. According to Homi K. Bhabha nation is an ambivalent construction.It is a cultural determinant.It is something between a concept and object because there is a geography and at the same time a mental image of nation.

Contents 1 Etymology and terminology 2 Medieval nations 2.1 Use of term nationes by medieval universities and other medieval institutions 3 Early modern nations 4 Social science 5 Black nationalism 6 Debate about a potential evolution or end of nations 7 See also 8 See also

Etymology and terminology

The word nation came to English from the Old French word nacion – meaning "birth" (naissance), "place of origin" -, which in turn originates from the Latin word natio (nātĭō) literally meaning "birth".<ref name="etymonline">{{

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The word "nation" is sometimes used as synonym for:

• State (polity) or sovereign state: a government which controls a specific territory, which may or may not be associated with any particular ethnic group
• Country: a geographic territory, which may or may not have an affiliation with a government or ethnic group

Thus the phrase "nations of the world" could be referring to the top-level governments (as in the name for the United Nations), various large geographical territories, or various large ethnic groups of the planet.

Depending on the meaning of "nation" used, the term "nation state" could be used to distinguish larger states from small city states, or could be used to distinguish multinational states from those with a single ethnic group.

Medieval nations

In her book Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300, Susan Reynolds argues that many European medieval kingdoms were nations in the modern sense except that political participation in nationalism was available only to a limited prosperous and literate class.<ref>Susan Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300, Oxford, 1997.</ref> In his book The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism, Adrian Hastings argues that England's Anglo Saxon kings mobilized mass nationalism in their struggle to repel Norse invasions. Hastings argues that Alfred the Great, in particular, drew on biblical nationalism, using biblical language in his law code and that during his reign selected books of the Bible were translated into Old English to inspire Englishmen to fight to turn back the Norse invaders. Hastings argues for a strong renewal of English nationalism (following a hiatus after the Norman conquest) beginning with the translation of the complete bible into English by the Wycliffe circle in the 1380s, arguing that English nationalism and the English nation have been continuous since that time.<ref>Adrian Hastings, The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997</ref>

Another prudent example of Medieval nationalism is the Declaration of Arbroath, a document produced by Scottish nobles and clergy during the Scottish Wars of Independence. The purpose of the document was to demonstrate to the Pope that Scotland was indeed a nation of its own, with its own unique culture, history and language and that it was indeed an older nation than England. The document went on to justify the actions of Robert the Bruce and his forces in resisting the occupation and to chastise the English for having violated Scottish sovereignty without justification. The propaganda campaign supplemented a military campaign on the part of the Bruce, which after the Battle of Bannockburn was successful and eventually resulted in the end of England's occupation and recognition of Scottish independence on the part of the English crown. The document is widely seen as an early example of both Scottish nationalism and popular sovereignty.

Anthony Kaldellis affirms in Hellenism in Byzantium (2008) that what is called the Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire transformed into a nation-state in Middle Ages.

Azar Gat is among the scholars who argue that China, Korea and Japan were nations by the time of the European Middle Ages.<ref>Azar Gat, Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Ethnicity and Nationalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2013, China, p. 93 Korea, p. 104 and Japan p., 105.</ref>

Use of term nationes by medieval universities and other medieval institutions

Template:Main article A significant early use of the term nation, as natio, occurred at Medieval universities<ref>see: nation (university)</ref> to describe the colleagues in a college or students, above all at the University of Paris, who were all born within a pays, spoke the same language and expected to be ruled by their own familiar law. In 1383 and 1384, while studying theology at Paris, Jean Gerson was elected twice as a procurator for the French natio. The University of Prague adopted the division of students into nationes: from its opening in 1349 the studium generale which consisted of Bohemian, Bavarian, Saxon and Silesian nations.

In a similar way, the nationes were segregated by the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, who maintained at Rhodes the hostels from which they took their name "where foreigners eat and have their places of meeting, each nation apart from the others, and a Knight has charge of each one of these hostels, and provides for the necessities of the inmates according to their religion", as the Spanish traveller Pedro Tafur noted in 1436.<ref>Pedro Tafur, Andanças e viajes.</ref>

Early modern nations

Template:See also In his article, "The Mosaic Moment: An Early Modernist Critique of the Modernist Theory of Nationalism", Philip S. Gorski argues that the first modern nation was the Dutch Republic, created by a fully modern political nationalism rooted in the model of biblical nationalism.<ref>Philip S. Gorski, "The Mosaic Moment: An Early Modernist Critique of the Modernist Theory of Nationalism", American Journal of Sociology 105:5 (2000), pp. 1428–68.[1]</ref> In a 2013 article "Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states", Diana Muir Appelbaum expands Gorski's argument to apply to a series of new, Protestant, sixteenth-century nation states.<ref>Diana Muir Appelbaum, Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states, National Identities, 2013, [2]</ref> A similar, albeit broader, argument was made by Anthony D. Smith in his books, Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity and Myths and Memories of the Nation.<ref>Anthony D. Smith, Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Myths and Memories of the Nation (Oxford University Press, 1999).</ref>

In her book Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity, Liah Greenfeld argued that nationalism was invented in England by 1600. According to Greenfeld, England was “the first nation in the world".<ref>Steven Guilbert, The Making of English National Identity, http://www.cercles.com/review/R12/kumar7.htm</ref><ref>Liah Greenfeld, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity, Harvard University Press, 1992.</ref>

Social science

In the late 20th century, many social scientists argued that there were two types of nations, the civic nation of which France was the principal example and the ethnic nation exemplified by the German peoples. The German tradition was conceptualized as originating with early 19th-century philosophers, like Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and referred to people sharing a common language, religion, culture, history, and ethnic origins, that differentiate them from people of other nations.<ref name=Noiriel>Template:Cite book</ref> On the other hand, the civic nation was traced to the French Revolution and ideas deriving from 18th-century French philosophers. It was understood as being centered in a willingness to "live together", this producing a nation that results from an act of affirmation.<ref>Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany, Harvard University Press, 1992, Template:ISBN</ref> This is the vision, among others, of Ernest Renan.<ref name=Noiriel />

Present day analysis tend to be based in socio-historical studies about the building of national identity sentiments, trying to identify the individual and collective mechanisms, either conscient or non-conscient, intended or un-intended. According to some of these studies, it seems that the State often plays a significant role, and communications, particularly of economic content, also have a high significance.<ref name=Noiriel />

Black nationalism

Template:See also The 18th century brought an alteration to the meaning of the term "nation", which became more narrowly referred to as a group with a recognizable and sovereign government with physical borders. This new definition aligns more with the concept of a nation-state.<ref>Bauböck, Rainer, and Thomas Faist. Diaspora and Transnationalism: Concepts, Theories and Methods. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010. Print.</ref> The nation began to emerge in the late 18th century as the leading form of government and social organization.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the Americas, the catalyst that brought about this change in meaning was the influence of the African diaspora and its people in other states.Template:Citation needed National identity brought rights to vote, to hold office, and independence for a growing number of black territories held under colonial rule.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

This change occurred in the New World as Africans were brought as enslaved peoples.Template:Citation needed The white population of the New World considered these aliens to be in one category of nation that was based entirely on color and continent of origin. The identity of the enslaved at the time was then shaped by their skin color rather than what nation or tribe they truly originated from. Prior to the 18th and 19th centuries, the term mainly referred to a group of people unified by language, region and cultural background; what is now considered to be one's ethnicity. It was through the process of emancipation and the end of the slave trade that the concept of nation began to change. As the previously enslaved began to fight for rights they had to discover what kind of rights they were searching for. It was in this process of emancipation that nationality began to take on a different meaning. Language and cultural background were no longer the only requirements of nation. Instead, now the idea of an established government and physical boundaries also shaped what it meant to be a nation.<ref>Manning, Patrick. The African Diaspora: A History through Culture. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. Print.</ref>

However, within the diaspora, particularly among groups that have been politicized, the term nation has been used to describe a more abstract national experience, one that transcends physical borders and language differences. This description of nation is pinned to the shared experience of being radicalized and termed as Black. The expansion of Black nationalism demonstrates that although some expanded the view that nation requires definable boundaries, those who shared the experience of the diaspora also found a nationality among themselves.

Debate about a potential evolution or end of nations

Template:See also There is an ongoing debate about the future of nations − about whether this framework will persist as is and whether there are viable or developing alternatives.<ref name=news/>

Postnationalism is the process or trend by which nation states and national identities lose their importance relative to supranational and global entities. Several factors contribute to its aspects including economic globalization, a rise in importance of multinational corporations, the internationalization of financial markets, the transfer of socio-political power from national authorities to supernational entities, such as multinational corporations, the United Nations and the European Union and the advent of new information and culture technologies such as the Internet. However attachment to citizenship and national identities often remains important.<ref>R. Koopmans and P. Statham; "Challenging the liberal nation-state? Postnationalism, multiculturalism, and the collective claims making of migrants and ethnic minorities in Britain and Germany"; American Journal of Sociology 105:652–96 (1999)</ref><ref>R.A. Hackenberg and R.R. Alvarez; "Close-ups of postnationalism: Reports from the US-Mexico borderlands"; Human Organization 60:97–104 (2001)</ref><ref>I. Bloemraad; "Who claims dual citizenship? The limits of postnationalism, the possibilities of transnationalism, and the persistence of traditional citizenship"; International Migration Review 38:389–426 (2004)</ref>

Transnational communities are social groups that emerge from mutual interaction and shared culture across national boundaries, oriented around a common project − such as the solving of a global issue − or 'imagined' identity.<ref>{{

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Humans like being around people like themselves.<ref name=news/> Other types of local communities − such as cities − might gain identity, influence and relevance as well as see increased sociocultural identification.

Jan Zielonka of the University of Oxford states that "the future structure and exercise of political power will resemble the medieval model more than the Westphalian one" with the latter being about "concentration of power, sovereignty and clear-cut identity" and neo-medievalism meaining "overlapping authorities, divided sovereignty, multiple identities and governing institutions, and fuzzy borders".<ref name=news/>

In the view of Ian Goldin, head of the Oxford Martin School, which analyses global problems, such networks must emerge. He quotes Slaughter, saying "Networked problems require a networked response" and states that existing institutions such as the World Bank and UN agencies are structurally unable to deal with problems emerging from global interconnectivity, such as economic instability, pandemics, climate change and cybersecurity.<ref name=news/>

For a society to survive, its collective behaviour must be as complex as the challenges it faces and national agendas seem to repeatedly trump the global good in such vital matters.<ref name=news>{{

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As both city or regional administrations<ref name=news/> and cooperation on the international level often prove to be more effective in solving critical issues than traditional models and as identities of transnational or nation-separate cultures develop the framework of nations might change, be extended or even be somewhat abolished.

See also

• Volksgeist
• Nationalism
• Ethnic stereotypes
• National stereotypes
• National trauma

See also

• Citizenship
• City network
• Country
• Government
• Identity (social science)
• Imagined Communities
• Invented tradition
• Lists of people by nationality
• Meta-ethnicity
• Multinational state
• National emblem
• National god
• National memory
• Nationalism
• Nationality
• Polity
• Qaum
• Race (human categorization)
• Separatism
• Society
• Sovereign state
• Stateless nation
• Tribe