ABSTRACT
Ginsberg 1 has defined a nation as “a body of people associated with, if not actually inhabiting, a certain territory, who have in common a stock of sentiments, thoughts and conative tendencies acquired and transmitted during the course of a common history and who have the will to be or to become politically independent, that is to exist as a separate state or to have some measure of autonomy, at least in cultural matters.” From this it appears that the exact description of a nation is even more difficult than the exact description of a race. All the same it is possible to say that most of the criteria used for distinguishing between races concern hereditarily transmitted factors and physical differences, while most of the criteria used for distinguishing between nations concern environmental influences or psychological differences.
