ABSTRACT
Ruth McVey points out that 'Separatism is a figment of the imagination of the nation-state'. The concept of 'state' is closely related to that of 'estate'. Quentin Skinner argues that the uniquely modern idea of the state is that it is a form of public power separate from both the ruler and the ruled. By far the most interesting attributes of the state in relation to imagination are 'continuity' and 'sovereignty'. Continuity is a characteristic which is provided by ideas embodied in tradition and vision. Through the process of social reproduction, the educational system serves to realise imaginations of the state by socialising its people; allocating its members to each appropriate place in a stratified society; and, lastly, by legitimising the existing established order. In an age when humanity is facing the threat of total annihilation by modern weapons, such imagination and the myth which accompanies it should be critically demythologised.
