What is a nation?

Nations are identified as imagined communities for they are nothing but immaterial social constructs,
based from Benedict Anderson. He defined nation as an “imagined political community” where
members of the community themselves possess a mutual comradery with one another, for the Nation
itself is sovereign, but retains limitations.

What is an imagined community?

According to Benedict Anderson, in his Book Imagined communities, he referred to the aforementioned
“Imagined Community” as an intangible or abstract social construct, upon which these members of the
community possess a common ground with one another despite indirectly knowing each other
personally. The ‘common ground’ that establishes the connection between these people are the things
that unite them through culture and psychology, particularly, in Anderson’s case, the strong mutual
connection of Nationalism.
What are the cultural roots of nationalism?
Anderson articulates two relevant cultural systems, wherein nationalism then emerged after these key
formations declined and the birth of national consciousness in the modern era went forth. These
systems are the religious community and the dynastic realm. Upon the perspective of the religious
community, Sacred languages like Examination Chinese, Latin, and Arabic were understood to be the
language of God, of reality. Vernacular languages, on the other hand, like English and French were said
to be “corrupt” and “fallen”. These unnecessary language barriers promote a more divided community
and/or nation, particularly to the Christians’ preference upon Latin, and Arabic by the Islam. Considering
outside of a Country’s scale, this dilemma was then worsened when presented upon specific geographic
locations, Latin in England for example, and Arabic in Iraq. On the other system, in the age of dynastic
realms, sovereignty was understood to be centripetal and hierarchical. Authority derived from the
sacred presence of the ruler. Where Monarchies and societies connected to specific families, and the
people are treated as subjects, not citizens, furthering an internationalist approach. The gradual decline
of these systems, beginning in the seventeenth century, provided the historical and geographical space
in which the rise of nations could take place