ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the enduring appeal of the idea of community. Nationalism has been able to generate cultural and political forms of belonging which have not been easily rivalled by other movements. As Hutchinson argues, the unified mass nation is something of a myth for there are always multiple and competing allegiances. The old cleavages in Western societies largely revolved around the politics of redistribution and were reflected in the conflict between labour and capital, much of which was domesticated by the centre right and centre left parties. Belonging today is participation in communication more than anything else, and the multiple forms of communication are mirrored in the plurality of discourses of belonging, which we call 'communication communities'. Modern society has increased the search for belonging and has created many new ways of belonging from local to national to transnational levels.
