Conclusion to Part I

Summary

Anthropologist Georg Elwert has argued that neither ethnic groups nor nations constituted a “natural order,” but instead competed with other types of social organization for the place of central organizing structure in the historic past. He even argued that there had been social structures where there were no “‘we-groups’ based on ethnicity.”¹ However, most commentators do give emphasis and weight to the role of ethnos in the formation of communities, especially the modern nation. No historian of nationalism knows exactly when to begin the history of any given nation, but all know that identity is a complex issue. Perhaps we also know that definitive and final answers are unlikely to be ever established, even if we know when and where an event took place. Nationalism as an ideology depends on loyalty and certainty, nationhood as an international system depends on legality and legitimacy, but historians have to live with an intelligent ambiguity.