Question

How is a nation different from other forms of collective belonging?

Answer 1

The nation is, to a great extent, an ‘imagined community’ held together by the collective beliefs, aspirations, and imaginations of its members. It is based on certain assumptions like shared beliefs, common history, common territory, shared political ideals, and common political identity that people construct about the collective whole with which they identify themselves. Unlike family, its members are not linked with face-to-face relation. It is different from clans and other kinship groups as it is not based on common descent. It is different from any lingual group as it is not based on a common language nor is it like a religious group as it does not share any common religion.