Nation

Nation is a community of people inhabiting a defined territory

and organized under an independent government; a
sovereign political state. 
Nationality is a legal relationship between an individual
person and a state.
 Definition of Nation
The word “nation” is derived from the Latin term
“Natio” 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.
However, writers differ over the definition of Nation
Let us analyze some of the common definitions-
 “ Nation is a population of ethnic unity inhabiting a territory of
geographical unity.” Burgess 
 “A nation is a union of men having racial or ethnographical
significance.” Leacock
 Nation is the will of a people to live together and it is not race or
language which makes a nation.” M. Houser
 “ A Nation is a culturally homogenous social group which is
conscious of its unity.” Barness
• 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.”
 

These definitions reveal two different ways in

which Nation is defined--
1.In terms of racial or ethnic unity
2.In terms of common bonds of unity
In contemporary times, we cannot accept race as the basis of a nation.
Today no nation can claim purity of race.
What really make a nation is-
Common inhabitancy
Common inheritance
Common history
 Common culture
 Common language
 Shared perceptions
 Common consciousness of a sense of unity and identity.
 In simple words --
Nation is a population with a strong sense of unity, a faith in
common identity as a united group and a common
consciousness of oneness.

Nationality as a term is often used to denote the sense of unity and

togetherness.
Hence Nation can be defined as a body of people bound by a sense of
common nationality.
 Think link----
Why Nationality is taken to mean Citizenship?
Factors of Nationality
• (1) Racial Unity.
• (2) Linguistic Unity.
• (3) Religious Unity.
• (4) Geographical Unity.
• (5) Common Historical Background.
• (6) Cultural Unity.
1. Racial unity:
Those who regard nationality as a racial phenome­non attach great
importance to racial unity as its essential basis. Racial purity, as
pointed out above, is not traceable anywhere in the present age.

England, America and Canada have developed into single nations

despite the fact there was a lot of racial diversity in their
respective populations.
England and Australia, on the other hand, are two distinct nations
although they belong to one racial stock. Racial unity, therefore,
does not play an important part in the creation of a nationality
though indirectly it has some strength.
2. Common language:
People having a common language can very easily develop into a single nation.
Common language means common literature. It therefore, brings about like-
mindedness. This results in a sort of psychological unity among the people.
History, however, shows that nationalities and nations can come into existence even
when a variety of languages are spoken by the people. Switzerland and Canada are
good examples.
3. Religious unity:
Common religion is always responsible for strong bonds of unity. It can be very
helpful in the formation of a nationality because religious unity implies unity in the
basic ideas and ideals of the people.
Importance of religion as a bond of national unity has, however, considerably
diminished in the present age of scientific outlook. The United States of America
affords an excellent example of a strong nation developing from a people having a
variety of religious faiths like Protestantism, Catholicism, Puritanism etc.
This shows that though religious unity helps the process of national unity yet it
cannot be considered a pre-requisite to national unity.
4.Geographical unity:
Geographical unity is considered to be very essential for the
formation of nationalities and nations. Geographi­cal unity is
Nature’s attempt to design separate entity of a certain country.
Moreover, such unity affords an opportunity to the people to live
together under similar climatic conditions. They develop like-
mindedness or similar mental behavior which, in turn, is
responsible for forging strong unity among them.
5. Common historical background:
Common history has proved to be an important source of
unity. Common past invokes an inspiration in the people and
binds them together. Historical calamities sometimes give a
chance to the people to develop national sentiments.
The Indians learnt the lesson of nationalism because of the
Imperial domination of the British people. According to J.S.
Mill, “the possession of a national history, and consequent
community of recollections, collective pride and humiliation,
pleasure and regret connected with the same incidents in the
Past are strongest of all the factors which generate the feeling
of nationality.”
6. Cultural unity:
Culture in its broad sense means a way of life. People having common customs
and common way of life can easily develop into a single nation.
While all the factors mentioned above help in the growth of  a nationality,
none of them is absolutely indispensable. In fact nationality is a subjective and
spiritual sentiment which cannot be defined in terms of any objective factors.
Conclusion-

The presence or absence of any one or more of these factors does not
necessarily imply the presence or absence of a spirit of nationality.
Switzerland is an example of a nation even though the people are divided by
race, language and religion. The Jews represent a strange example of a
nation. The Jews developed into a nation although they never had any
particular territory having a geographical unity.
They were scattered all the world over and it was only after world war II that
they established a slate of their own in Israel. As Laski puts it, “Nationality is
essentially spiritual in character, a sentiment, the will of the people to live
together.”
 Reference Reading Links --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15nqjGCAqd4