ABSTRACT
In the record of the formation of nations, of which numerous cases have been mentioned in the preceding pages, generosity and hubris, self-sacrifice and denial of others’ rights, flowering and withering of culture are woven inextricably together. Wars however are started by governments, and are waged between states. National movements threaten to disrupt states; and states promote national movements in order to disrupt other states. National cultures were created through the history of nations. History is the collective memory of human communities. Peace would be best served if national movements could aim at something other than state sovereignty, and if rulers of sovereign states that are multinational would accept the reality of diverse national cultures. In Yugoslavia both the conflict between Serbs and Croats and the discontents of an Albanian community numbering about a million and a half persons had remained dangerous. Vertical stratification and splintering must be distinguished from local community solidarity.
