ABSTRACT
The story of nations and nationalism dominates modem history , yet both terms seem to defy precise definition. Although nations claim roots in the mists of prehistory, they are in fact relatively new phenomena. Since the 1960s, scholars have viewed nations as the products of modemization, a broad societal process beginning in the eighteenth century characterized by industrialization, urbanization, and the standardization of culture, education, and mass media.2 Many now regard this explanation as too mechanistie and note its inability to account for the strength of nationalist sentiment. Such strong emotional bonds, often expressed
2 Gellner, Nations and Nationalism; Hobsbawrn, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780.
