Nation-building

How does a nation-state come into existence?

A nation’s cultural elite comes together and creates the story of the nation, demonstrating that the nation existed from the earliest times it’s possible to co-opt for the story. It creates an idea of the national character and the national values. It compiles a list of cultural figures, philosophers, artists, military leaders, etc who were carriers of the national character for centuries. Different factions within the cultural elites have their own list, and they battle it out in debates. The story of the nation can be completely invented but that’s utterly beyond the point.

Then the story and the list of symbols, iconic characters and values has to be popularized. The people of the nation should develop an emotional response to this story. There should be a national archive, well-defined borders, and the symbols of the nation that appeal to all the senses and evoke an emotional response. All of this creates a feeling of “we, the people.” An imagined community of people who never met each other but feel part of the whole.

Every European nation-state went through this process throughout the 18th century and arrived in the 19th ready to become an actual nation-state. Without this process, there is no nation. Nation-building is great but it can only be done organically, from the inside. Nobody can give it to others. It’s a long, difficult process that can only be carried out by the nation itself. Any attempt to nation-build for others is doomed.

This is why all these “recognitions of Palestine” are stupid. You can’t appoint a nation into existence. We’ve seen many efforts in that direction in Africa, and they all failed. There’s nothing mysterious about nation-building. The process has been described in great detail, and it always follows the pattern I described.