What is a nation?

By Terence J. Grant, June 30, 2004

What defines a nation is akin to what sociologists might say defines a human. Personality, or what can be considered the “human identity,” can be approached in a view of simplistic “properties” of an individual. Such properties include ancestry, gender, age, and race. Based on such a generic subset, we can make broad assumptions and test various hypotheses in social and statistical experimentation.

In Huntington's book “Who Are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity,” he describes what he terms as an “American identity,” consisting of four generic properties analogous to the properties of the human identities introduced earlier. They consist of race, ethnicity, culture (encompassing both language and religion), and ideology. Cultural and ideology properties are intertwined, as well racial and ethnic properties are just as difficult if not harder to separate.

Although Huntington's view is mainly focused towards the nation of the United States of America, the ideas presented in his book can be applied very easily to study that of any nation.

Lets look at an overview of the properties presented. First, the racial and ethnicity properties can be interpreted as the race and ethnicity of those who exist within the nation. Next we have the cultural property, which simply stated separates those who speak different languages and practice different religions. Ideology can be described as the common set of laws and rules abided by the nation. (Although Huntington alludes to ideology being the weakest property, giving ancient Rome as an example of an ideologically based nation, it is also the backbone of how the nation is governed.)

It follows then, that because a nation on a physical level consists of one or more communities, and that communities themselves consists of individuals, that the recursive properties of a nation's communities and individuals contribute back into the generic properties of a nation.

Now, given these theories, let us follow up with a corollary. It would appear that a nation, when viewed as a group, has an “us vs. them” attitude in regards to other nations. One whose properties are threatened either by means external or internal, might attack the nation with the weaker or stronger properties. This goes to explain the conflicts between the different nations, and why there are many nations instead of one “global nation.”

From a nation's properties we can then take a glance at the different types of nations to come up with stereotyped conclusions of their identities. Look at European nations and you can see how language, religion, and ethnicity play a major role in the definition of their respective nations. In Mid-Eastern nations religion and race can be described as the most defining properties, and ideology rules supreme in the “Western world,” which for our purposes could encompass the United States and Japan.

As you can see, Huntington has some good theories to offer to build upon. It is worth noting before reading however, that Huntington's book is very biased towards explaining the role of the American patriot pre and post September 11th, 2001, giving quotes from individuals before and after the tragedy of the day and making comparisons of “inflicted patriotism.” A self-described patriot, Huntington makes no qualms about including patriotism within each and every main idea throughout his book. That being said, reading between the lines gives an important message for all to consider: a weakened national can rebuild its strength through strengthening its identity.

Finally, it is important to note that the ideas here only scratch the surface. It would be an error to classify a nation's identity using only its properties. Perhaps the folly of Huntington's approach is that you cannot expect to truly understand all facets of what makes a nation a nation based solely on simplistic characteristics to determine a nation's identity. Viewing the properties of anything can only tell so much. Nevertheless, it's a start towards understanding what a nation is and how to strengthen it.