What is a nation? It's kind of a difficult thing to understand. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "nation" is the word "country". However, I've come to learn that a country is not always a nation. That's not to say that it can't be, but it's not always the case. There has been debate about what a nation actually is. That brings us to the term "nation-state". What is the difference between the two? Well, a nation-state is a country that has physical borders and a single government. Like I said, there are many different ways to understand a nation. So, what are some understandings of a nation? There are many different factors that attribute to what a nation is. There are cultural and ethnic understandings of a nation, religious, geographic, and even political.
One understanding of a nation is linguistic, or the language within a nation. Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a 19th century German philosipher explained that "a common language can create a feeling of belonging so powerful that it inspired a sense of nation". Some believe that language itself is what creates a nation. This is especially true for the people of Quebec. The feeling of belonging to a linguistic nation is very strong among francophones across the country. This is one powerful understanding of a nation.
Another understanding of a nation is ethnic and cultural. Many nations come into being because of shared racial, cultural or linguistic characteristics. For example, the Korean, Japanese and Norwegian nations are based largely on ethnicity, or ethnic nationalism. Ethnic nationalism which is founded on ethnicity, language and culture is how many nations come to be. As opposed to civic nationalism which is founded on the shared values and beliefs of the people within that nation. Many support the idea of basing a nation on common ethnicity because it helps to protect the nations common identity. In extreme cases however, it can lead to racism and intolerance. Culture, or the ways of life that people share can also inspire a sense of nation. Culture and ethnicity are closesly related in creating the feeling of a nation.
Religion and geography are some other understandings of a nation. Religion is a very important understanding of a nation. For example, the Jewish nation has existed for about 3000 years, and for most of this time, they did not have a geographic territory of their own. It wasn't until 1948 that the country of Isreal came into being. This is a prime example of how a shared belief such as religion can form a nation without a geographic territory connected to that religion. Similarly, not all geographic territories are nations. You may have an area in which there are people living, but they may not be part of a nation. The people in this area may create their own sense of culture, values and beliefs to become a nation, just because of the fact that they live in the same geographic area.
Lastly, there is political understanding of a nation. Many nations exist, even without geographic area as mentioned above, but they also exist without government also. Many believe that when deciding if a people are a nation, something to consider is their desire for self-determination, or the power to control one's own affairs. Some beleive that this consideration may even be more important than actual sovereignty, which is the political authority to control one's own affairs.
There are many different ways to understand a nation. Nations come to be in many different ways, this is just one way to try and understand them.
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