Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century

Eduardo Montagut

Texto Traducido por amanda Macedo

The nineteenth century has been regarded as the age, or the century, of nationalisms for several reasons:

1. The modern concept of the nation emerged as a response to the legitimacy claimed by traditional states: those of the Ancien Régime and absolute monarchy.
2. New nations came into being, such as Germany, Italy, Greece and Belgium, among others.
3. By the end of the century, a number of sociocultural communities — nations without a state — had begun their struggle to obtain one.

During this century of nationalisms, four different but complementary criteria persisted regarding what was considered a nation:

1. The nation as a political entity identified with the State.
2. The nation as a geographical unit, delimited by natural borders and identified with the inhabitants of that territory.
3. The nation as the will of a people conscious of its common identity, expressed through rational collective political action.
4. The nation as the distinctiveness of a people on the basis of certain characteristics, such as language, ethnicity, religion, a shared historical past, and so on.

These four major interpretations make nationalism a highly complex phenomenon, one that has been used to satisfy contradictory political aims and claims. The future persistence of nationalism rests on the fact that the ideal concept of the nation has not been achieved — and, in all likelihood, never will be.

That ideal nation would bring together the four elements outlined above.

The nineteenth century has been regarded as the age, or the century, of nationalisms for several reasons: