The concept of ''Nation And Nationalism''

 NATION AND NATIONALISM

A nation is a modern political identity, blended with culture and belongingness. It is a cultural entity , it means when a group of people speak a similar language, practice the same religion and share a common history, they recognize his identity, tied with the nation. Whereas, nationalism is a sentiment, a sense of belonging to the political creed and a collective Psychological construct. It is a creed constructed through the shared imagination of culture, language, symbols like the National Flag or Anthem and mythology related to a particular specified territory.

In the 19th and 20th century, the nation and nationalism evolved in Europe. Due to changes in economy, society, technology, art, culture, philosophy and so on. It constructed a new identity which is called a nation.

As the world is divided into different territorial states; similarly, the world is also divided into nations. It means a population, possessing historical similarities, shared myths and historical memories , mass public culture and single economy and common rights and duties for all member who have a sense of belongingness. German Poet, J.Herder   is known as the ''father of cultural nationalism.' He said that, '' Nation is a natural institution, self evolved and organic group characterized by a distinct language, culture, shared past and spirit. Herder gave importance to the language.

Nationalist is also acclaimed, that a particular territory exist a nation and it should be on the basis of political order. There are two major perspective of nationalism,i.e., Liberal and Marxist.

Liberal Perspective: Ernest Gellner, in his book,'' Nation and Nationalism'', argued that , nation is a product of modern means of communication, administration, common law and knowledge. It is an organic and natural one. It sometimes takes Pre- existing culture and sometimes inherent culture and turn them into a nation. In this process, there is a pressure on pre-modern culture and transforming them into national culture . There is a tendency of modernization in liberal perspective of nationalism.

Marxist Perspective : Marxist argues that nationalism is a bourgeose (capitalist class) ideology and ally of capitalism. It unites the dominant class i.e., bourgeose. It invents tradition which is false conciousness. Eric Hobsbawm and Benedict Anderson are exponent of Marxist perspective of nationalism. Benedict Anderson, in his book, "Imagined Community'' argued that , a nation is an imagined community constructed by printed capitalism. The print image rather than a genuine community. It has been created through a map, education and the process of socialization. It is and ideology of the ruling class rather than masses.

Conclusion: A nation can be defined as a group of people who share a common history, culture , language and territory while nationalism is the belief that a nation should have its own independent state or government and the interest of nation should come before those of any other entity. There are two major perspectives in global politics; Liberals and Marxist. However there are several other perspectives namely, civic, ethnic, culture and so on..each emphasizing different aspects of what it means to be part of a nation.Sometimes, these different perspective overlap and conflict with one another, highlighting the complexity of the concept of nation and nationalism.