ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we argued that nation-building is a necessity to create viable states that are strong enough to both meet the demands of their citizens and play a self-confident role in the global community. Fragile states, too, are forced to take up this challenge of playing their role in the world of nation-states. However, there is a serious caveat here. Twentieth-century history tells us that building strong states has its downsides. The idea of the nation-state went awfully wrong when nationalism pulled Europe into two devastating wars with the battlefields of Northern France and the Holocaust. The nation-state became tainted by nationalist, exclusionary discourse. Instead of serving as the flag for change and modernity as it was meant to be during the 19th century, nationalism became a dark ideology. These events of the 20th century in the name of the nation-state mean that we cannot afford to entertain a romantic approach to or notion of nation-building. There will always be the risk of falling prey to fiercely nationalist movements that try to hijack the nation-building process to establish ethnic, religious or regional dominance. It would be naïve to close our eyes to that dark side of the nation.
