Contestable and Not Intuitively Obvious

"As a political doctrine, nationalism is the belief that the world's peoples are divided into nations, and that each of these nations has the right of self- determination, either as self-governing units within existing nation states or as nation states of their own. As a cultural ideal, nationalism is the claim that while men and women have many identities, it is the nation which provides them with their primary form of belonging. As a moral ideal, nationalism is an ethic of heroic sacrifice, justifying the use of violence in the defence of one's nation against enemies, internal or external.

These claims - political, moral, and cultural - underwrite each other. The moral claim that nations are entitled to be defended by force depends on the cultural claim that the needs they satisfy for security and belonging are uniquely important. The political idea that all peoples should struggle for nationhood depends on the cultural claim that only nations can satisfy these needs. The cultural idea in turn underwrites the political claim that these needs cannot be satisfied without self-determination. Each one of these claims is contestable and none is intuitively obvious.

Many of the world's tribal peoples and ethnic minorities do not think of themselves as nations; many do not seek or require a state of their own. It is not obvious furthermore, why national identity should be a more important element of personal identity than any other; nor is it obvious why defence of the nation justifies the use of violence."

Michael Ignatieff - Blood and Belonging