ABSTRACT
The first definition of nationalism that could be offered comes from Ernest Gellner (1983). It is expressed in the nationalist principle according to which each nation should have its own state. It is the claim that the borders of the nation and those of the state should always coincide. This radical definition must be contrasted with the thesis that each nation has the right to have its own state, for this latter definition is compatible with the suggestion that, in many circumstances, the best solution is rather to accommodate a nation in some kind of multinational
arrangement. In other words, the kind of nationalism involved in this latter approach is less radical, because it is not always a good thing to exercise the right to have its own state, for it is sometimes better for the nation to remain stateless if it is able to get some kind of recognition within a multination state.
