ABSTRACT
Despite its long-prophesied demise, the nation remains the most pertinent form of collective identity. Nationalist movements have shown increasing strength and fervour in defending the right of each nation to self-determination. Even though many Western thinkers and politicians have tended to believe that civil war is a relic of a bygone era and that ethnic conflict is now confined to the developing world (Asia and Africa), the bloodshed in the ex-Yugoslavian Republics has proved them wrong. National sentiments remain very strong within Europe as well.
