Write an 1120 Words Essay on Nation
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A nation is body of persons inhabiting a definite territory and thus united to one another because they belong to the same country. These persons constituting a nationality are drawn from a number of different races or breeds which, after wandering in many places, got settled down in a particular territory.
A nation is therefore, not necessarily a race like the Nordic, Alpine or the Mediterranean, but rather a mixture of races.
As a result of long mixing together, the members of a nation develop two forms of mental sympathy. First, they have a common tradition which has grown up in the course of a common past history, a common language, a common religion, a common culture or way of life and common social habits. Secondly, they have a common will to live together, because they are under the impression that they have a liking for the institutions and laws which suit their way of life. In this way, a nation tends to form a separate state for the expression and realisation of its national character and will.
The idea of nation (or nationality) developed in different ways among different nations. In Germany under the Nazi regime (1933 – 1945) the nation was based on a “racial” unit which was supposed to be on the unity of “Aryan blood” which made the Germans a superior people compared with the Jews.
The French idea of the nation that began with the French Revolution of 1789 is, however, very simple. According to the French conception, the nation is simply the population of the territory of France united by the bond of “love of the national soil”.
Thus the French nationality was something rooted in the soil of France, its sunshine, its wine, its speech, its social habits and its way of life. The idea of the nation is generally the basis of a state. But it is not always that in a state there is, only one nation. For example, India is a nation, though consisting of diverse interests.
The word “nation” is derived from the Latin term Natus which means born. So in its derivative sense nation means a group of people that have a common racial origin. This was the conception of nation for the German philosophers. This idea of nation is definitely misleading because there is no nation in the world belonging to the same racial stock.
According to J. W. Garner- “A nation is a culturally homogeneous social group which is at once conscious and tenacious of its unity of psychic life and expression.”
So Lord James Bryce said- “Nation is a union of men having racial or ethnographic significance”.
According to J. K. Bluntschli- “Nation is a union of people bound together by language and customs in a common civilisation which gives them a sense of unity and distinction from all foreigners.”
For R. N. Gilchrist, nationality may be defined as “a spiritual sentiment or principle arising among a number of people usually of the same race, residents on the same territory, sharing a common language, the same religion, similar associations and common ideals of political unity.”
J. W. Burgess’ definition of nation is- “a population with ethnic unity, inhabiting a territory, with geographical unity.” For Stephen Butler Leacock, “a body of people united by common descent and common language” makes a nation. To Ernest Barker- “A nation is a community of persons living in definite territory and thereby bound together by the bonds of mutual love.” In the same vein, Ramsay Muir defined nation as “a body of people who fell themselves to be naturally linked together by certain affinities which are so strong and real for them that they can live happily together, are dissatisfied when disunited and cannot tolerate subjection to peoples who do not share the ties.”
According to A. E. Zimmern, it is “A body of people united by a corporate sentiment of peculiar intimacy, intensity and dignity, related to a definite home-country.” Again, Pradier Fodere’s definition is- “Affinity of-race, community of language, of habits, of customs and religion are the elements which constitute the nation.”
In all such definitions most of the political thinkers emphasise that every society which has enough of a distinct tradition to be called a character has a natural right to political independence and what is called, in the jargon of the hour, self-determination. John Stuart Mill thinks that any portion of mankind may be said to constitute a nation if they are united among themselves by common sympathies.
But racial purity cannot be found in the modern world because the population of every modern country has a mixed blood. Nation has also nothing to do with a definite territory, though this is the general notion of a nation. So it is said that nationality is not a matter of political frontiers or round skulls and broad noses, but a matter of the heart and soul. In this connection V.P. Singh, the former Prime Minister of India said- “A nation is not a map on a piece of paper. It lies in the heart of the people”.