ABSTRACT
In 1945 Europe emerged torn apart by a war in which ethnic, national and racial differences had determined allies and enemies. In reality, ethnic differences have continued to perform a fundamental role in the development of all nation states and systems of government within Europe, in societies in which origin plays a central role in determining which individuals obtain economic and political rewards. A political, social and economic transformation needs to take place in order for ethnicity to evolve into nationalism followed by a nation state. Nations and states differ and there is nothing inevitable in the existence of the nation state. Nationalism is usually regarded as the ideology of a growing bourgeoisie, used to divide proletarians of one nation from those of another and therefore allowing bourgeois values to become dominant. Nationalism is therefore inextricably linked with the process of industrialisation. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
