ABSTRACT
Nationalism is one of those terms which convey so much and at the same time so little. Indeed, although today nation is a globally recognisable notion, an irreducible component of identity, it remains a term incapable of meaningfully conveying the diversity of national experiences in the variety of social-historical contexts in which national identity and nationalism become salient. Etienne Balibar recognises this multiplicity and diversity of the processes of construction of national identities and nationalisms, and its significance, as he argues that these ‘do not work everywhere the same way: in a sense, they must work everywhere in a different way, this is part of the national “identity”.
