Nations and Nation-states in History

Abstract

The article is organized on a rough chronological basis. The first section, ‘Nations before nation-states?’ examines concepts of nation and national identity before the development of nation-states and includes consideration of the debate concerning the modernity or otherwise of nation, nation-state, and nationalism. The second section, ‘Nation-states before nationalism,’ looks at nation-state development in Europe (and some non-European areas) before the period of the mid/late eighteenth century when it is argued modern nationalism first developed. The third section, ‘Nations and modern nation-states’ surveys the interrelated development of nation and nation-state in the modern era of nationalism. This section is divided into two parts which are themselves roughly chronological in order. The first part, ‘Nationalism, nations, and nation-state formation’ describes how nation-states were formed by the various processes of separating from, unifying, or ‘nationalizing’ existing states. The second part, ‘Nationalism and nations in a world of nation-states’ looks at the period in which nation-states have come to be accepted as the political norm and considers how nationalism, the nation and national identity change with conflict between nation-states, and the assertion of concepts of national identity by the state upon its subjects.