Nation

Nation ( transferred to the German before the 14th century, from the Latin national, "birth, origin, people" ) refers to larger groups or collectives of people who shared cultural characteristics such as language, traditions, customs, traditions, national origin be attributed. This linguistic and cultural characteristics and features are then identified as the national character of a people or an ethnic community. Basically, this corresponds to the nation as an anthropological concept which is reflected in the terms of the cultural nation or ethnic nation.

In the pre-bourgeois time the students were the first universities from certain European regions as respective nation ( nationes ) categorized (eg Bavarian nation ). The state -based nation development, in which the ( really different ) state and the nation were interconnected or equated terms, happened at the beginning of the bourgeois era and the modern era. Against this background, between state, nation ( cultural nation ) and the nation state is to be distinguished. Only in a nation-state falls the state structure with the concept of the nation together.

The concept of nation is important for the legal and the political sphere. Thus, a nation an ethnic group, however, may rely on the over state-organized international law, which is often referred to as " international law " refers only to the protection of minorities.

Constitute a nation as a state with a constitution for political collectives, which, like in the French Revolution (1789-1799) in the National Assembly, there are terms like nation by will or nation-state. State and nation are used here interchangeably. Instead folkish designs are used here mainly ideals such as "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" as the foundation of a nation. In this context, it is also postulated that particularistic ( special ) territorial bonds would have to be stripped to allow the creation of a common nation. Membership in the nation is linked to a promise of emancipation and a compulsion to assimilate here.

As determined nation with a state people also applies to Switzerland, consisting of German -, French-, Italian - and Romansh populations. An ethnic nation or cultural nation, however, is often, but not necessarily, a supranational cultural area such as the Arabic language and cultural space; People that make up such an ethnic nation are referred to as a people. In addition, this can also affect ethnic minorities within states or nation-states, such as the Chukchi within Russia.

The shape of the structure of the nation is reflected in a series of contradictions, for example, if the language is interpreted as a national characteristic. Thus, for example, form the states of Brazil and Portugal, despite the common Portuguese Official Language no common nation, because on the one live in different cultural areas and their populations have also experienced different processes of state formation.

Conceptual history

Nations designated in Latin, originally a community of people of the same origin, because then a knowable by common language, customs and traditions Community, in the Roman language, first as a foreign term for alien turned wandertes people living with the local population. Own legal basis was gentium with jus for dealing with people who did not have Roman citizenship, created.

Following on from the Roman language use are in the Christian Latin which nationes ' or ' gentes ' primarily the non-Jewish nations, as followers of pagan cults or as a conversion willing Gentiles who accept the Jewish Christians the Gospel and form with them the communion of the Church.

The students had to enroll with their own statutes and procurators at the medieval university according to their countries of origin in Nationes. This university Nations, usually there were four of them, were named after the most important areas of origin of the local students. At the University of Paris the nationes galli corum, normannorum were picardorum and anglicorum distinction, which belonged to the " Gallic " the Italians, Spaniards, Greeks and Orientals and "English", the Germans and their northern and eastern neighbors peoples. At the University of Prague belonged to the " Polish " nation in addition to the students from the Kingdom of Poland and the students of the eastern parts of the empire, the " Bohemian " also Hungarians and South Slavs, the " Bavarian " except the Bavaria Swabia, Franconia, Hesse, Rhineland and Westphalia as well as the " Saxon " the North Germans, Danes, Swedes and Finns.

As a self-designation for a people with political and governmental unit and that is justified by common ancestry and history nature of the term nation wins in French since the 16th century, meaning that in the 18th century, with the French Revolution, with emphasis on the whole and sovereignty of the state's population against feudal and particularistic claims disseminated to State sovereignty in the other European languages. As a result of the revolution and a growing population developed the idea of the nation as a whole state high dynamics, the first against autocratic feudalism, economically and politically constricting particularism and country mannschaftliches thinking ( German princely states or German language and cultural space ) or against imperial foreign domination ( multi-ethnic states Russia, Austria - Hungary) was directed.

Johann Christoph Adelung describes in his standard work Grammatically - critical dictionary of the High German dialect at the end of the 18th century the concept of nation as " the native inhabitants of a country, so far as they have a common origin, and speak a common language, they like the way a single State make, or in several vertheilet being [ ... ] also, special branches of such a nation, di einerley dialect -talking inhabitants of a province are sometimes called nations, in which intellect, it is common to the old universities, where the members are vertheilet by nation [ ... ] Before this word was entlehnet from Latin, used man. nation for nation, in which sense it is still common practice of ancient nations Because of the ambiguity of the word but it has this meaning great measure abandoned and introduce nation for nation searching, which word also been found applause ". For the German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, the nation is " the ( innate ) national of a country, a state groszen totality ". The term is therefore " since the 16th century from the French nation, ( from the Latin national ) ital nazione " was included in the German language. Similarly, the definitions set out in about the same time incurred Oeconomischen Encyclopedia of Johann Georg Krünitz and, much more extensive, in the Meyers Lexicon incurred in the second half of the 19th century.

In his famous speech of 1882 Qu'est- ce qu'une nation? named Ernest Renan past, present and future as the factors that constitute the spiritual principe of the nation. A people fancy a nation not because of a common race, language or religion, not because of common interests or because of geography, but rather because common memories of the past and because of the desire to have and will continue to live together.

"Nation" social science

In the social sciences context, the term is used in very different ways, eg as desired company of Ferdinand Tönnies, as imagined community ( cf. Benedict Anderson ), as based on primordial ties group (see Clifford Geertz ), as a collective ( Klaus P. Hansen ), as well as historically contingent concept (see Rogers Brubaker ) or as a combination of the above terms (see Anthony D. Smith).

"Nation" in political science

For a political coalition of people who are not assigned to any monophyletic group alone is sufficient to use the term state. The designation as a nation would be here from the original meaning wrong as a community of descent ago. Nevertheless, the state is also referred to as a nation often here. This is the empathic united, sovereign politically organized and orderly state in addition as life and living community of its inhabitants - are emphasized - from socio- psychological reasons.

In France, a centralized state, one tries under the symbol of the Grande Nation, the States, but also the aspirations of the autonomous regions, the dynasties and ethnic groups such as the Bretons, Corsicans, Basques and Germans in the French State to integrate; partly an attempt was made to replace their native languages ​​by the French state language. Today their care occurs again out much. In contrast, the multi-ethnic state Switzerland, whose inhabitants can be assigned to different ethnicities ( the Switzerland consists of one German, one French, one Italian and one area Romansh ) and is therefore referred to as so-called will of the nation. The typical immigration countries, Canada and USA are missing quite a few European- typical properties as nations, yet they take for themselves - again, for political and socio- psychological reasons - this term to complete. The Indian tribes of North America, however, Indian nations are increasingly independent state belonging.

Cultural nation

Of culture is a very sustainable concept of the nation, because it describes the language and cultural space ( language and tradition ) of a people. Nation is then preserved through history unit in language, culture and traditions (see People's term ). You can not be defined by territorial borders, but connects to, for example, national monuments, national hero, a national anthem and a Nationalallegorie as identification services. The unit of the national language is usually marked by a national literature.

Nation is then rather ethnically homogeneous understood ( as a people ), but also as the root ( tribal people, earlier peoples strain) (see tribalism, reservation ). This definition of the nation is often out of the common ancestry of the members of the nation and the resulting cultural and linguistic unity. The quest for ethnically homogeneous nation-states in the 20th century led to the so-called ethnic cleansing.

Linguistic unity and team spirit

Show examples from the last few centuries, that people of a region can develop and preserve linguistic similarities, without thereby have a common sense of belonging.

• Although the Shona of Zimbabwe have a common language and now a we-feeling, but in the 19th century they had not the latter. Gave them the name they be subjected Ndebele, and her grammar was written by missionaries.
• The opposite of this is Scotland: The Scots are in the country itself as well as in the world a notion, although it there are two local languages ​​(Scottish Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon Scots ), none of which was spoken by all the Scots to the 19th century and belonging to different branches of the Indo-European language family.

Religion

Again, the national concept is often used as a religious association ( religious state, state religion ). Often a common religion is a constitutive element, eg for Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran or the Irish or Croatian nation.

"Nation" state philosophically

"Nation" under international law

In international law, is parked on the actual similarities of a people. Thus, according to Article 1 and Article 55 of the Charter of the United Nations, individual nations the right to self-determination and regardless of whether they are already part of a state ( see self- determination of peoples ). " A state of the world in which every people have their own state, although does not have form, but may form and in which every person can belong to the people of his choice, can be thinking, but do not realize. " Selects the law of the Federal Republic of Germany for its citizens a hybrid between nationality and ethnicity principle principle.