Nation Building

Nation building can be defined as the conscious creation of an identity group, often through the claim to an ethnic distinction, shared history, traditions, institutions, language, and territory. Usually there is a demand for statehood, or some form of political autonomy, and in recent decades an acknowledgement by the international community of its existence. In addition, the formation of national feeling is understood as a process, not something that can be completed quickly. Indeed, in one sense it is never completed, in that even long-standing nations change, and traditions, institutions, and myths have to be adapted and reformulated.

Although the nation is one of the oldest concepts of the social sciences, the modern form of nation building emerged in the early modern [Page 1174]period. Nations and ...