ABSTRACT
In Europe, nation is usually understood literally, as a community based on common descent, in contrast to the American concept of an obviously heterogeneous population that derives its unity from a shared political faith. In the reallocation of East European boundaries ostensibly following the principle of self-determination, those denied that right had to live in states in the full flush of exclusionary nationalism. When the Allies founded the League of Nations in 1918, one of its functions was to safeguard the rights of minorities. The flood of later immigrants, brought in to supplement the depleted work force, was larger and from quite different cultures. Legal influx continues at about 100,000 a year, plus an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 who slip in illegally. In Europe, censuses have been postponed or revised in response to pressures from one or another sector of the population.
