ABSTRACT
What is a nation? How are nations created? When does a nation cease to exist? For example, at what point did the region of the United States of America cease being an English colony and instead become a nation? Was it when the War of Independence ended (a war that the British call the American Revolution)? Was it when the United States first signed its Constitution? Or was it much later, perhaps after the Civil War, when Americans could clearly articulate a common vision of the nation that they belonged to? Questions about nations are not easily answered because building a nation requires more than just a declaration of independence. Nation building is a process that necessitates interactions between citizens and between the state and other nations. Indeed, as Burke points out in Language as Symbolic Action, identification is based on the idea of similarity (1973, pp. 263-275) and differences, or negatives (1966, pp. 3-24). That is, individuals and nations understand themselves in relation to others, and in relation to what they are not. An approach to nation building that looks at how communication can contribute to national identity and unity is a timely endeavor. Communication, especially mass communication, has been discussed as a central part of most nation-building programs. However, nation building is a dynamic human process. A public relations approach to nation building utilizes a more elaborate model of communication that focuses on how meanings such as national identity, national unity, and the nation state are socially constructed.
