The general problem with which this book is concerned is the classical question of the nature of the most sovereign and legitimate socio-political community modern men and women wish to live in, and to contribute to, for their own as well as their children's security and well-being. The classical answer has been that it is both desirable and worthy of emulation so to rearrange society and political authority that they can be easily recognized by all to be the community we call the nation-state.

The question itself has been central to political discourse since it was first asked by intellectuals during the Enlightenment and the answer guided men of rude action towards the end of the eighteenth century. The reaction in the following century to the ‘age of reason’, which is generally described as the Romantic Movement, rephrased but did not abandon the question. The discourse became less speculative and rationalistic, and became more a commitment to feelings, traditions and the construction of widely shared myths. The changes wrought were consistent with the nationalists' discovery of the potentially revolutionary force of the common people, which could be harnessed in the nationalists' gigantic project of reorganizing power and society. But, alongside the activities of practical men and women, who have ensured that nationalism has found expression in all areas of human endeavour, the political discourse concerning the desirable socio-political unit has continued down to our own time.