5 Comments
User's avatar
тна Return to thread
michaelflutist's avatar

How a country starts its existence doesn't necessarily make it more or less real afterwards.

Expand full comment
Marcus Graly's avatar

But it may make it more politically cohesive.

Is more important that there's a unifying narrative though than any "real" point of unity, especially not one based on ethnic or religious identities.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Sure, narratives help, and Quebec definitely has one.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Unity based on ethnicity or religion is very common for nations, though, so what your or I as Americans might consider important is not at all necessarily the most common impetus for nation-forming nor the most common cause for national unity. The U.S. is unusual to the extent that it is based on an idea or philosophy and not purely on Anglo white supremacy.

Expand full comment
Marcus Graly's avatar

Even within Europe, having a national idea of some sort tends to be better than just an ethnic state. Take France for example: "Libert├й, Egalit├й, Fraternit├й" is a much more unifying message then "we're a bunch of people who speak a vaguely similar language and have some shared culture and history." That's how you get a Yugoslavia.

Expand full comment