1. National identity

3. Question - What it takes to be one of a nation. i. e
Question - What it takes to be one of a nation? i.e. What are the basis of national identity?
From which century do we talk about nations and national identity?
Have its roots changed during the course of history?
What is national identity based on in the 21st century?
The followings are the findings from a cross-national poll by Pew Research Center, conducted in 14 countries among 14,514 respondents from April 4 to May 29, 2016.

4. Nations and nation states
Which came first: the nation or the nations state?
Theory 1.:nation states arose in the 15th century
Theory 2.: the nation state is a 19th-century European phenomenon
Difference between ethnic nations (Germany, Italy, etc.) – where cultural unification preceded state unification and civic/territory based nations – where the national unification was state-driven (France, England, etc.)
15th century: the nation state did not arise out of political ingenuity or an unknown undetermined source, nor was it an accident of history or political invention; but is an inadvertent byproduct of 15th-century intellectual discoveries: capitalism, mercantilism, political geography, cartography (Weber, Woodward, Black)
.: most theories see the nation state as a 19th-century European phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-mandated education, mass literacy and mass media. (Hobsbawm)

5. relatively low premium on a person’s birthplace
a median of 33% of Europeans believe that it is very important for a person to be born in their country in order to be considered a true national.
The followings are the findings from a cross-national poll by Pew Research Center, conducted in 14 countries among 14,514 respondents from April 4 to May 29, 2016.
There are some exceptions – Hungary (52%), Greece (50%) and Japan (50%) – where about half the public considers birthplace to be very important. But in other nations – Germany (13%), Australia (13%) and Sweden (8%) – very few people make a strong connection between the locale of one’s birth and national identity.
Birthplace

6. no European country accords legal citizenship based simply on the fact that a person was born on the territory of a state
birthplace

7. language is seen as the most critical to national identity
Majorities in each of the 14 countries polled say it is very important to speak the native language to be considered a true member of the nation.
Language

8. The European Union has 24 official languages and a number of other regional and minority languages among its 28 member states
In some European countries, the ability to speak the official language is more important to people ages 50 and older than to those ages 18 to 34
In Sweden, for instance, the oldest generation is 23 percentage points more likely than the youngest generation to say language is very important to being Swedish. Generational splits are also found in the UK (18 points), Spain (17 points), Greece (13 points) and the Netherlands (11 points).
The cornerstone of national identity

9. national customs and traditions
National customs and traditions – the holidays people celebrate, the foods they eat, the clothes they wear and the folk tales they tell their children – have long been associated with national identity. But their importance in the public’s sense of nationality varies widely across countries.
national customs and traditions

10. religion