ABSTRACT
It is customary to classify European nationalism into two types or categories: political (or civil) nationalism and cultural nationalism. Nationalism of the first type is the feeling or awareness evolving within an existing state, when that state and its regime are the operative forces shaping the partnership that is commonly referred to as the nation. Nationalism of the second type is the sense of ethnic and cultural identity and belonging that precedes the state, and which in fact attempts to realize itself through the state. This kind of nationalism involves intensive efforts towards the creation of the various aspects of a shared cultural heritage — including a national language, a national literature, a historical awareness, and so on — and only in a later stage the desire for national sovereignty within the national territory.
