There are many possible definitions but , for this article , it seems significant to mention the reflection of the historian Federico Chabod , according to whom there are two ways to consider the nation :
1 ) on a “ naturalistic ” background , as an ethnic concept that can lead to racism (‘ pure blood ’, ‘ pure language ’, etc .);
2 ) or on a “ voluntary ” background , which is to say having freedom of choice as regards belonging 2 .
The difference between these two concepts was shown clearly in 1870-71 when the Prussian government decided to annex Alsace-Lorraine , asserting that the region was German , without regard to the views of those involved .
Before the birth of the modern concept of nation-state , what linked members of the same community was being subject to the same monarch , adhering to a given religion or belonging to a certain social class .
The idea of the nation , developed since the end of the 18th century , draws its members from a broad community bonded by the struggle for liberty and modernity , against monarchical absolutism .
The sociologist Alberto Martinelli writes that ‘ through the centuries Europe has been an open and multiform world in which diverse cultural identities have crossed and compared themselves ’ and have constantly revamped established beliefs and ‘ the unifying ties ’. This is why many scientific works use the term Euro-
2 . Federico Chabod , L ’ idea di nazione , Laterza , 1961
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