The term nation does not have a shared common definition, as it is instead a concept that individuals construct an identity with[1]. Stephen Shulman hypothesized that national identities consists of three key elements, with a few components[1]:
| Element | Components |
|---|---|
| Civic identity | Citizens Territory (state) Legitimacy Ideology Government |
| Cultural identity | Religion Language Traditions |
| Ethnicity | Social characteristics Physical characteristics |
Although, while a popular model, the term nation remain undefined, and continues to simply be a means by which people identify themselves.
Nation-Building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States (Ch. 2: Nation and State) by René Grotenhuis ↩ ↩2