ABSTRACT
Self-determination is often presented as a right peculiar to nations, with the magnitude of self-determination somehow proportional to the authenticity and antiquity of the nation. Nation is an essentially modern concept, rooted in the idea that legitimacy ultimately derives from man. The liberal conceptualization is essentially political, and the nation is of value only in so far as it promotes individual welfare. The romantic is essentially cultural and sentimental. The nation is unique, it connects man to his place in the landscape and ties him to his fellow kin. Kin-based communities are a recurrent feature of human society, and they are sometimes construed in the modern idiom of nations. National self-determination presents a difficulty for international relations, which is in part a consequence of semantic ambivalence. The pre-modern era, is characterized by empire as the political source of stability, and hierarchical social structures, notably feudalism.
