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Class 11PolityPolitical TheoryChapter 7

Nationalism

≈ 40 min read · 3 Prelims and 6 Mains questions from this chapter
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Start here: why this chapter matters

In simple wordsWhen India plays a cricket final, millions of strangers who will never meet feel they are on the same side. That feeling is powerful — it can build a country or break one. This chapter asks what that feeling is, what it claims, and how a democracy should handle it.

NCERT says its aim is not to explain why nationalism arose but to think carefully about it and assess its claims: understand nation and nationalism, see its strengths and limits, and appreciate the link between democracy and nationalism.

  • Builds on Citizenship (Chapter 6: citizen and nation, national identity) and leads into Secularism (Chapter 8: a nation of many faiths).
  • Pairs with Indian Constitution at Work, Chapter 7 (Federalism: linguistic States, special provisions, the response to regional demands) and Chapter 10 (fraternity and national identity in the Constitution's philosophy).
  • UPSC: Prelims on the Basques and Kurds (1991, 1997, 2003); GS1 on Gandhi and Tagore on nationalism (2023), cultural diversity and national identity (2015), unity in diversity (2026) and regionalism (2013); GS2 on ‘sovereign nationalism’ after globalisation (2025); GS4 on patriotism in everyday civil life (2014).
WordWhat it means here
NationA large community whose members believe they belong together and aspire to political self-rule
NationalismLoyalty to the nation and the political creed that claims rights for it
Nation-stateA state that claims to coincide with a nation
Imagined communityA community held together by shared beliefs rather than face-to-face ties
HomelandTerritory a nation sees as its own — motherland, fatherland, holy land
Self-determinationA people's claim to govern itself and decide its own future
Separatism / secessionA movement to break away and form a separate state
PluralismRecognising and protecting many cultures within one state
Civic nationalismBelonging based on shared political values (Beyond NCERT term)
Ethnic / cultural nationalismBelonging based on shared descent, language or religion (Beyond NCERT term)
Multinational stateA state containing more than one group that sees itself as a nation
PatriotismLove of one's country; Tagore distinguished it from love of humanity
Reading NCERT's opening photograph (page 97)A photograph by Shweta Rao of a hand-painted memorial on a wall, in capital letters: it was built in memory of a soldier, Balbir Singh of an Indian Army regiment, who died at that spot on 3 December 1983 while constructing the defences of a fort. The point: nationalism inspires people to sacrifice even their lives for the nation — the intense loyalty the chapter will examine and assess.

At a glance — the six ideas to carry away

  • Nationalism unites and divides: German and Italian unification; the end of empires; anti-colonial struggles; today's separatist movements (Quebec, Basque, Kurds, Tamils).
  • A nation is not a family or clan — it is largely an ‘imagined’ community whose members never meet yet feel they belong together.
  • Five bases: shared beliefs, history, territory, shared political ideals, common political identity; no language, religion or descent is common to all nations.
  • Democracies should imagine the nation in political rather than cultural terms: loyalty to constitutional values, not to one religion, race or language.
  • Self-determination: ‘one culture — one state’ caused migration and new minorities; the right is now read as democratic rights within a state.
  • Pluralism: group rights and an inclusive identity; Tagore: humanity above patriotism; each person has many identities.

1. Introducing nationalism: a force that unites and divides

In simple wordsGlue can join pieces into one strong object — or, put in the wrong place, hold apart what should move freely. Nationalism is like that glue: it has joined small kingdoms into countries and also split empires apart.

Asked what nationalism means, people speak of patriotism, flags and sacrifice; the Republic Day parade symbolises the power, strength and diversity many associate with the Indian nation. A precise definition is hard, but nationalism must be studied because of its role in world affairs. Over the last two centuries it has inspired intense loyalties and deep hatreds, united and divided people, liberated them from oppressive rule and caused conflict and wars, broken up empires and redrawn borders.

It has passed through phases. In nineteenth-century Europe it unified small kingdoms into larger nation-states — modern Germany and Italy — and new states were founded in Latin America; local dialects and loyalties were consolidated into national languages and loyalties, a process seen in India too. Nationalism also accompanied the break-up of empires: the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires in early twentieth-century Europe, and the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese empires in Asia and Africa. India's freedom struggle was a nationalist struggle for an independent nation-state.

Boundaries are still being redrawn. Since 1960, even stable states have faced nationalist demands, including for separate statehood — among the Quebecois in Canada, the Basques in northern Spain, the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, and the Tamils in Sri Lanka; some groups in India also use the language of nationalism. Arab nationalism may hope to unite Arab countries, while Basque or Kurdish movements seek to divide existing states. Hence the questions: what is a nation? why are people ready to die for it? do nations have a right to statehood, or can their claims be met without it?

1861 · 1871*Italy, Germany unified1918*two old empires collapse1919Versailles: new small states1947*India independentfrom 1960separatist demands rise1960*UN decolonisation declaration1991*USSR splits into 15 states2011*South Sudan independentShaded = event NCERT discusses (years marked * are Beyond NCERT) · pale = Beyond NCERT · not to scale
Phases of nationalism — unifying, dividing, liberating.
Reading NCERT's side cartoon on page 99A boy says that in this age of globalisation the world is shrinking into a global village and nations are irrelevant. A girl disagrees: nationalism is still relevant — watch India play cricket, or see Indians abroad still watching Bollywood films. The point: globalisation has not dissolved national feeling; it often coexists with it. UPSC GS2 2025 asked about ‘sovereign nationalism’ as globalisation wanes — the same debate.
Beyond NCERT — dates and facts behind NCERT's examples
  • Italy was proclaimed a kingdom in 1861 (Rome joined in 1870); the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871.
  • The Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires collapsed at the end of World War I (1917–1918); the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919.
  • US President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918) popularised self-determination; the UN Charter (1945) names ‘self-determination of peoples’ among its purposes; the UN General Assembly's 1960 declaration called for ending colonialism.
  • The USSR broke into 15 states in 1991; South Sudan became independent in 2011 after a referendum.

2. Nations and nationalism: what makes a nation?

In simple wordsYou know everyone in your family and could trace your cousins. But you will never meet most of the 140 crore people of India — yet you feel they are ‘yours’. That shared belief is what makes a nation.

A nation is not a casual collection of people. It differs from a family (face-to-face relationships) and from tribes, clans and kin groups (ties of marriage and descent we can trace). As members of a nation we may never meet most fellow nationals nor share descent — yet nations exist and are valued. It is commonly believed that nations share descent, language, religion or ethnicity, but no common set of characteristics is present in all: Canada has English and French speakers; India has many languages and religions. A nation is to a great extent an ‘imagined’ community, held together by its members' collective beliefs, aspirations and imagination.

Familyface-to-face; everyone knows everyoneTribe, clan, kin groupmay not know all, but can trace ties of marriage and descentNationwill never meet most members; no shared descent needed — yet it is lived in and valuedNCERT page 100 · a nation is to a great extent an ‘imagined’ community (term from Benedict Anderson, 1983 — Beyond NCERT)
From family to nation — widening circles of belonging.

NCERT identifies the assumptions people make about the nation. (1) Shared beliefs: a nation is constituted by belief, not physical features — like a team, which exists only if its members think of themselves as one. (2) History: a continuing identity stretching into past and future, drawn from memories, legends and records; Indian nationalists invoked India's ancient civilisation and cultural continuity — Nehru in The Discovery of India wrote of a tremendous impress of oneness beneath outward diversity. (3) Territory: a homeland — motherland, fatherland or holy land; the Jewish people, though dispersed, claimed Palestine as the promised land; India identifies with the rivers, mountains and regions of the subcontinent. Since more than one people may claim the same land, homelands are a major cause of conflict.

(4) Shared political ideals: what distinguishes a nation from other groups is a shared vision of the future and the aspiration to independent political existence — values such as democracy, secularism and liberalism. In a democracy, a shared commitment to political values is the most desirable basis of a nation-state; members are bound by obligations arising from recognising each other's rights as citizens, and accepting these obligations is the strongest test of loyalty to the nation. (5) Common political identity: many seek instead a shared cultural identity — language, descent, religion, festivals. These can bring people together but also threaten democratic values, for two reasons: all major religions are internally diverse, so forging identity on one religion tends to create an authoritarian and oppressive society; and most societies are culturally diverse, so imposing one religious or linguistic identity excludes some groups and limits equal treatment and liberty. So democracies should imagine the nation in political rather than cultural terms — loyalty to values enshrined in the Constitution rather than to a religion, race or language.

⤵ From a group of people to a nation (NCERT's account)
People believe they belong togetherlike a team — without the belief there is no nation
They tell a shared historymemories, legends and records of a continuing identity
They claim a homelandmotherland, fatherland, holy land — sometimes contested
They share a political visionthe kind of state they want: democracy, secularism, liberalism
They aspire to self-rulethe claim that turns a group into a nation
A nationexists when…1 · Shared beliefsmembers believe theybelong together — a team2 · Historya continuing identity fromthe past into the future3 · Territorya homeland: motherland,fatherland, holy land4 · Political idealsa shared vision of thestate: democracy, secularism5 · Political identityloyalty to constitutionalvalues, not one cultureNCERT pages 101–103 · shaded: the political bases NCERT considers most desirable in a democracy
NCERT's five assumptions that hold a nation together.
Reading NCERT's side cartoon on page 101A boy asks a girl why she does not cheer for ‘our team’ — has she no nationalist spirit? She replies she is as much a nationalist as anyone: she votes, pays her taxes, respects the laws and is proud to belong to the country. The point: NCERT's own test of loyalty — accepting obligations to fellow citizens — matters more than displays of fervour. This is the core of UPSC GS4 2014 on patriotism in everyday civil life.
Reading NCERT's ‘Let's Do It’ box and the Nehru quotation (pages 100–102)
  • Find a patriotic song in your language and see how it describes the nation; watch patriotic films and note how nationalism and its complexities are portrayed — homeland, sacrifice, unity, sometimes an ‘enemy’.
  • NCERT quotes Nehru's The Discovery of India on the oneness that held Indians together across diversity and political misfortune — the ‘history’ basis of nationhood. Beyond NCERT: Nehru wrote the book in 1944 while imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort; it was published in 1946.
Political (civic) nationCultural (ethnic) nationBasis of belongingshared political values, often in a constitutioncommon language, religion, descent or cultureWho belongsall citizens who accept the valuesthose who share the cultureStrengthincludes diverse groups as equalsstrong sense of familiarity and solidarityConcern raisedmay feel too thin to bind peopleexcludes minorities; can become oppressiveClassic statement*Renan: a nation as a ‘daily plebiscite’ (1882)Herder: each people (Volk) has its own spiritNCERT's viewmost desirable basis in a democracya threat to equal treatment and libertyNCERT page 103 uses ‘political’ and ‘cultural’ · ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ and the * row are Beyond NCERT · simplified
Political (civic) and cultural (ethnic) ideas of the nation compared.
Beyond NCERT — theorists of the nation
  • Ernest Renan, ‘What is a Nation?’ (1882): a nation rests on shared memories and the will to live together — ‘a daily plebiscite’.
  • Johann Gottfried Herder (18th century) stressed each people's distinct language and culture — a source of cultural nationalism.
  • Giuseppe Mazzini championed Italian unification and the idea that each nation should have its own state.
  • Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1983), coined the phrase NCERT uses; Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (1983), argued that nationalism is a product of modern industrial society.

3. National self-determination

In simple wordsA group of friends wants its own club, with its own rules. Fair enough — but if every small group splits off, the school ends up with a hundred tiny clubs, and some students belong to none. Self-determination raises the same puzzle for countries.

Unlike other groups, nations claim the right to govern themselves — self-determination — and seek international recognition as a distinct political entity or state, usually as people who have long lived on a land with a common identity, sometimes also to protect or privilege their culture. In nineteenth-century Europe the idea of ‘one culture — one state’ gained ground, and it guided the redrawing of borders after World War I: the Treaty of Versailles created several small new states, but could not satisfy every demand. Redrawing boundaries caused mass migration: millions were displaced and expelled from ancestral lands, and many died in communal violence. Even so, no new state contained only one ethnic community; most had minorities, often disadvantaged — so the problem of accommodating minorities as equal citizens remained. The one positive aspect: political recognition for groups that wanted to govern themselves.

National liberation movements in Asia and Africa also asserted self-determination against colonial rule, seeking dignity, recognition and protection of their people's interests, and inspired by justice, rights and prosperity. Here too not every cultural group could gain statehood, and migration, border wars and violence followed. Hence a paradox: states that won independence through struggle now act against minorities within their own territories who claim self-determination. Virtually every state faces this dilemma. More and more people realise that the solution lies not in creating new states but in making existing states more democratic and equal, so that people of different cultural and ethnic identities live as partners and equal citizens. A state that does not respect minorities' rights and identity will struggle to win their loyalty.

19th-century Europe‘one culture — one state’After World War IVersailles creates small statesThe costmass migration, displacement, violenceAnti-colonial movementsindependence for colonised peoplesThe paradoxnew states face minorities' own claimsReinterpreted todaydemocratic rights within a stateNCERT: the solution lies less in creating new states than in making existing states more democratic and equal
How the idea of national self-determination changed.
Reading NCERT's box ‘Demand for national self-determination in Basque’ (page 105)
  • A small map shows the Basque region in northern Spain, near the French border, with an inset of Europe.
  • The Basque Country is a hilly, prosperous region recognised as autonomous within Spain, but leaders of the Basque nationalist movement want a separate country, using constitutional and, until recently, violent means.
  • Nationalists' case: a distinct culture and a language unlike Spanish (understood by about a third of the people today); a geographically distinct hilly region; and since Roman times their own systems of justice, administration and finance. The modern movement began when Spanish rulers tried to abolish these arrangements late in the nineteenth century; the dictator Franco cut autonomy further and banned the Basque language in public places and even homes. Those measures were withdrawn, but leaders remain suspicious of the government and fearful of ‘outsiders’.
  • Opponents' case: separatists are seeking political gain from an issue already resolved.
NCERT asks: are they justified? Is Basque a nation? What more would you need to know? The point: a self-determination claim can rest on real history and culture, and still be contested.
Basque nationalists saya distinct culture and a language unlikeSpanish; a hilly, distinct region; theirown justice, administration and financesince Roman times; distrust of MadridOpponents saythe region already has autonomy withinSpain; repressive measures werewithdrawn; separatists seek politicalgain from an issue already resolved1939–75Franco limits autonomy,bans Basque in public1979Statute of Autonomy2011ETA ceasefire2018ETA dissolvesArguments: NCERT page 105 · dates on the line are Beyond NCERT · ETA was an armed Basque separatist group
The Basque case: both positions, and the dates (Beyond NCERT).
⤵ A democratic response to a nationalist demand (illustrative)
A group claims nationhooddistinct language, history, territory; grievances of past repression
Listen and recogniseacknowledge the identity; protect language, culture and religion
Share powerautonomy, federal units, representation in state institutions
Negotiate disputestalks and accords rather than force; courts and elections as channels
Equal citizenshipmembers of the group become partners — loyalty grows from respect

4. Nationalism and pluralism

In simple wordsA garden with only one kind of flower is neat but fragile. A garden of many flowers is harder to tend — and far richer. A pluralist nation chooses the second garden.

Once we abandon ‘one culture — one state’, we must find ways for different cultures and communities to flourish within one country. Many democracies protect the identity of cultural minorities; the Indian Constitution has an elaborate set of provisions protecting religious, linguistic and cultural minorities. Group rights in different countries include constitutional protection for minorities' language, culture and religion, and in some cases group representation in legislatures and state institutions. They are justified as equal treatment and protection of the law for group members and protection of the group's identity. The national identity must be defined inclusively, recognising the contribution of all communities.

Some groups may still demand separate statehood — paradoxically, even as globalisation spreads. Considerable generosity and skill are needed to deal with such demands democratically. To sum up: self-determination was often understood as the right to independent statehood, but granting statehood to every cultural group would be impossible and probably undesirable — it could create states too small to be viable and multiply minority problems. The right has been reinterpreted as granting certain democratic rights to a nationality within a state.

How multinational states respond — from least to most change (Beyond NCERT examples)Cultural and minority rightsprotect language, religion, schoolsIndia: Arts 29–30; 22 languages in the Eighth ScheduleLanguage-based unitsredraw internal boundariesIndia: States Reorganisation Act, 1956Regional autonomyself-government inside the stateSpain's autonomous communities; Iraq's Kurdistan RegionSpecial provisionsasymmetric status for some unitsIndia: Article 371 series; Sixth ScheduleNegotiated accordend insurgency through agreementIndia: Mizo Accord, 1986; Mizoram a State in 1987Referendum on independencea vote, under agreed rulesQuebec 1980, 1995; Scotland 2014 — all voted to stayNCERT page 107: considerable generosity and skill are needed to deal with such demands democratically
How multinational states accommodate nationalist claims (Beyond NCERT examples).
Beyond NCERT — multinational states and separatist movements (bare facts, both positions)
  • Canada (Quebec): referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995 were both lost, the second narrowly (about 50.6% to 49.4%). Sovereigntists cite Quebec's distinct French language and culture; federalists argue that Canada accommodates Quebec through bilingualism and provincial powers.
  • Spain (Catalonia, Basque Country): autonomous communities under the 1978 Constitution; a 2017 Catalan independence referendum was ruled unconstitutional by Spain's courts. Separatists invoke a distinct nation; the Spanish state invokes the Constitution's ‘indissoluble unity’ of Spain.
  • United Kingdom (Scotland): an agreed referendum in 2014 voted to remain in the UK (about 55% to 45%).
  • Iraq (Kurds): the Kurdistan Region has constitutional autonomy since 2005; a 2017 independence referendum was rejected by Iraq's federal government.
  • Sri Lanka (Tamils): the 13th Amendment (1987) created provincial councils after the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord; the armed separatist conflict ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE.
  • India: States were reorganised on linguistic lines in 1956; the DMK dropped its demand for a separate Dravida Nadu in 1963, after the 16th Amendment required candidates and legislators to swear to uphold India's sovereignty and integrity; the Mizo Accord (30 June 1986) ended the Mizo National Front's insurgency, and Mizoram became a State in 1987. Article 1 describes India as a ‘Union of States’.
Stated as facts with each side's position; no evaluation.
Reading NCERT's ‘Let's Do It’ box (page 107)Collect newspaper clippings on demands for self-determination in India and abroad, and form an opinion on the reasons, the strategies used, whether the claims are justified, and possible solutions. A balanced note distinguishes cultural recognition from statehood, peaceful from violent strategies, and solutions short of secession — autonomy, special provisions, negotiated accords.

5. Tagore's critique — and other Indian views of the nation

In simple wordsYou can love your family deeply and still refuse to cheat a neighbour for its sake. Tagore loved India deeply — and refused to let that love make him unjust to anyone else in the world.
Reading NCERT's box ‘Tagore's critique of nationalism’ (page 108)
  • The page is illustrated with a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore and two pages of his handwritten Bengali manuscript.
  • NCERT quotes Tagore: patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; his refuge is humanity; he will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and will never let patriotism triumph over humanity.
  • Tagore opposed colonial rule and asserted India's right to independence; he felt British colonial administration had no place for the dignity of human relationships that British civilisation otherwise valued.
  • He distinguished opposing western imperialism from rejecting western civilisation: Indians should be rooted in their own culture yet learn freely from abroad.
  • He criticised narrow nationalism in parts of the independence movement, fearing that rejecting the West for apparently Indian traditions could turn into hostility to other influences long present in India — Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam.
The point: nationalism must not become exclusion; humanity is the higher loyalty.

Beyond NCERT — the Tagore–Gandhi debate. Tagore and Gandhi admired each other but disagreed. In 1921, Tagore's essay ‘The Call of Truth’ criticised aspects of the Non-Cooperation Movement, including the burning of foreign cloth and a spirit of exclusion; Gandhi replied in Young India (‘The Great Sentinel’), defending non-cooperation as a moral discipline and insisting his nationalism was not hostile to other nations. Gandhi wrote that for him patriotism was the same as humanity. Tagore's lectures published as Nationalism (1917) criticised the aggressive nation-state of the West; his novel Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1916) dramatised the dangers of a coercive swadeshi. On education, Tagore founded Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati as places of open, universal learning, while Gandhi's Nai Talim (basic education, 1937) stressed learning through productive craft and self-reliance. UPSC GS1 2023 asked exactly this comparison.

Indian thinkers on nation and nationalismattributed historical positions; none presented as the correct oneTagore (NCERT)humanity above patriotism;learn freely from the WestGandhi*patriotism the same ashumanity; non-violent swarajNehru (NCERT quote)civilisational unity amiddiversity — ‘oneness’Azad*composite nationalism:faiths share one nationAmbedkar*a nation still in the making;caste divides itSavarkar*cultural nationalism:Hindutva (1923)Muslim League*two-nation theory: LahoreResolution (1940)The Constitution*civic: fraternity, unity andintegrity; equal citizensShaded = in NCERT · * Beyond NCERT · one-line summaries of complex views; read each in context
Indian thinkers on nation and nationalism — attributed, not endorsed.
Beyond NCERT — the other positions in the grid (bare facts)
  • Nehru: India as a civilisational unity in diversity (The Discovery of India, 1946).
  • Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, presiding over the Congress at Ramgarh in 1940, described Indian nationality as a composite one to which Muslims belonged as fully as others.
  • B.R. Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949 that castes were ‘anti-national’ and that Indians had yet to become a nation in the social and psychological sense — fraternity was the work ahead.
  • V.D. Savarkar's Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? (1923) set out a cultural definition of the nation.
  • The Muslim League's Lahore Resolution (March 1940) asserted that Muslims were a separate nation entitled to independent states.
  • The Constitution chose a civic basis: equal citizenship regardless of religion, fraternity ‘assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation’ (Preamble; ‘and integrity’ added in 1976).
These are historical positions, summarised neutrally; each should be studied in its own context.
⤵ Tagore's argument, step by step
Oppose colonial ruleIndia has a right to independence; colonial rule denies human dignity
But do not reject the Westoppose imperialism, not western civilisation; learn freely from abroad
Beware narrow nationalismrejecting the foreign can become hostility to faiths long part of India
Humanity is the higher loyaltypatriotism must never triumph over humanity

6. Many identities, one citizenship

In simple wordsYou can be a daughter, a Tamil speaker, a cricketer, a Christian and an Indian — all at once, and proud of each. Trouble starts only when someone tells you to give up all but one.

The world is deeply conscious of the importance of recognising identities, and many struggles for group recognition use the language of nationalism. We must acknowledge identity claims without letting them lead to division and violence. Each person has many identities — gender, caste, religion, language, region — and may be proud of all. So long as each person can freely express these dimensions, they may not feel the need to claim political recognition for any one. In a democracy the political identity of citizen should encompass the different identities people have. It would be dangerous to allow intolerant and homogenising forms of identity and nationalism to develop.

Citizenof a democracyGenderCasteReligionLanguageRegionProfessionIf each identity can befreely expressed, peopleneed not demand politicalrecognition for just oneDanger: intolerant,homogenising forms ofidentity and nationalismNCERT page 109 · the political identity of citizen should encompass the many identities people have
Many identities within one political identity of citizenship.
Exam traps
  • The Basques live in Spain (with a smaller part in France) — not Portugal or Italy (UPSC 1997, 2003).
  • The Kurds live mainly in Turkey, Iraq, Iran (and Syria) — NCERT names Turkey and Iraq (UPSC 1991).
  • ‘Imagined community’ is Benedict Anderson's term (1983); NCERT uses it without naming him.
  • NCERT prefers the political basis of the nation in a democracy; it does not say culture is irrelevant to belonging.
  • Self-determination is now read mainly as democratic rights within a state, not a right of every group to secede.
  • The Tagore quotation is about patriotism vs humanity — he supported India's independence.
  • Germany and Italy show nationalism unifying; Austria-Hungary and Russia show it dividing.
Why this matters for answer-writingQuestions on nationalism, unity in diversity, regionalism or patriotism reward a balanced frame: nationalism as both liberating and divisive → what binds a nation (NCERT's five bases) → civic over cultural in a democracy → self-determination reinterpreted as rights within the state → India's pluralist design (linguistic States, minority rights, special provisions) → Tagore's caution and the citizen's many identities. On live disputes, state facts and each side's position; do not take sides in your own voice.

NCERT's in-text questions, cartoons and activities — short answers

‘In this age of globalisation nations are irrelevant.’ — ‘No, nationalism is still relevant.’ (page 99)
Globalisation links economies and cultures, but nation-states still control borders, citizenship, defence and law, and national feeling persists (sport, diaspora culture). Many argue globalisation has even provoked reassertions of nationalism. A balanced view: identities are layered — global, national, local — rather than replaced.
Let's Do It: Identify a patriotic song in your language and patriotic films. How is the nation portrayed? (page 100)
Typical portrayals: the land as mother; rivers and mountains; sacrifice of soldiers and freedom fighters; unity across religions and regions. Complexities: some films show divided loyalties, partition, or the cost of violence; some portray a hostile ‘other’. Note whether the nation is defined politically (values, citizens) or culturally (one tradition).
‘Why don't you cheer for our team? Don't you have nationalist spirit?’ — ‘I vote, pay taxes, respect the laws and am proud to belong.’ (page 101)
The girl's view matches NCERT: accepting obligations to fellow citizens is the strongest test of loyalty. Cheering is a feeling; voting, paying taxes and obeying laws are commitments that sustain the nation. Patriotism in civil life means honesty, respect for others' rights and public service (UPSC GS4 2014).
Basque box: Are Basque nationalists justified? Is Basque a nation? What more would you need to know? Similar examples? Indian cases? (page 105)
They have markers of nationhood — language, history, territory, a political aspiration — so many would call them a nation. Justification for a separate state is contested: Spain already grants autonomy and has lifted repression. Need to know: what the population wants (vote results), how minorities within the region would fare, economic viability, and whether autonomy is working. Examples: Quebec, Scotland, Catalonia, Kurds. In India, past demands such as Dravida Nadu and Mizo statehood were resolved through constitutional means and accords (Beyond NCERT).
Let's Do It: From clippings on self-determination demands — reasons, strategies, justification, solutions. (page 107)
Reasons: distinct culture or language, historical grievances, economic neglect, repression. Strategies: elections and referendums, mass movements, negotiation, sometimes violence. Justification: stronger when peaceful and when rights are denied; weaker when it creates new minorities or uses violence. Solutions: cultural rights, autonomy, federal reorganisation, special provisions, negotiated accords.

NCERT exercise — answer outlines

Try each question yourself first, then open the outline. NCERT has no multiple-choice questions in this chapter; the self-check tests the key ideas.

Q1. How is a nation different from other forms of collective belonging?
Unlike a family (face-to-face) or a tribe, clan or kin group (traceable ties of marriage and descent), a nation is a large ‘imagined’ community whose members never meet most others and need not share descent, yet believe they belong together. It is distinguished by a shared history, homeland, and above all a shared political vision and the aspiration to self-rule.
Q2. What is the right to national self-determination? How has it led both to the formation of and challenges to nation-states?
Meaning: a nation's claim to govern itself and be recognised as a distinct political entity. Formation: unification of Germany and Italy; new states after World War I (Versailles); independence of colonies in Asia and Africa. Challenges: ‘one culture — one state’ caused migration and violence and left minorities everywhere; new states face their own minorities' claims (Quebec, Basque, Kurds, Tamils). Hence its reinterpretation as democratic rights within a state.
Q3. ‘Nationalism can unite and divide, liberate and generate bitterness and conflict.’ Illustrate.
Unite: German and Italian unification; India's freedom movement binding many regions and faiths. Divide: break-up of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires; Partition; separatist movements. Liberate: anti-colonial struggles in Asia and Africa. Bitterness and conflict: World War I-era border redrawing, mass migrations, communal violence, competing claims to one homeland.
Q4. Neither descent, nor language, nor religion or ethnicity is common to all nationalisms. Comment.
True: Canada has two major languages; India has many languages and religions; Switzerland (Beyond NCERT) has four national languages. Nations rest instead on shared beliefs, history, territory and political ideals. Grounding a nation in one religion or language excludes minorities and can be oppressive, so democracies should base it on shared constitutional values.
Q5. Illustrate the factors that lead to the emergence of nationalist feelings.
(1) Shared beliefs of belonging (the team analogy); (2) a sense of history (Indian nationalists invoking civilisational continuity; Nehru); (3) attachment to a homeland (motherland, the ‘promised land’); (4) shared political ideals and aspirations (democracy, secularism); (5) common experiences — colonial rule, repression (Franco's ban on Basque), shared struggle.
Q6. How is a democracy more effective than authoritarian governments in dealing with conflicting nationalist aspirations?
Democracy allows voice, negotiation and peaceful channels (elections, courts, referendums); it can grant autonomy, cultural rights and representation; it can reorganise units (India's linguistic States) and reach accords (Mizo Accord). It treats groups as partners, earning loyalty. Authoritarian regimes tend to suppress identities (Franco), which deepens grievances and can provoke violence.
Q7. What are the limitations of nationalism?
It can breed hatred, exclusion of minorities and wars; cultural nationalism can become homogenising and oppressive; ‘one culture — one state’ caused mass displacement; secessionist claims can multiply minority problems and create unviable states; it can place the nation above humanity (Tagore's warning). Hence the need to tie nationalism to democracy and pluralism.

What to remember

Numbers

Italy proclaimed a kingdom (Beyond NCERT)1861
German Empire proclaimed (Beyond NCERT)1871
Treaty of Versailles1919
Rise of new separatist demands (NCERT)since 1960
NCERT's five bases of a nationbeliefs, history, territory, political ideals, political identity
Renan, ‘What is a Nation?’1882
Anderson, Imagined Communities; Gellner, Nations and Nationalism1983
Nehru, The Discovery of Indiawritten 1944; published 1946
Tagore, Nationalism (lectures)1917
Tagore–Gandhi exchange on non-cooperation1921
Franco's rule in Spain1939–1975
Basque Statute of Autonomy1979
Quebec sovereignty referendums1980, 1995
Scotland independence referendum2014
Linguistic reorganisation of Indian States1956
Mizo Accord30 June 1986

One-liners

  • Nationalism unites and divides, liberates and embitters.
  • A nation is largely an imagined community.
  • No language, religion or descent is common to all nations.
  • In a democracy, the nation should be political, not cultural.
  • Accepting obligations to fellow citizens is the strongest test of loyalty.
  • ‘One culture — one state’ caused migration and left minorities everywhere.
  • Self-determination is now read as democratic rights within a state.
  • Tagore: patriotism must never triumph over humanity.

Traps to avoid

  • Basques: Spain (UPSC 1997, 2003); Kurds: Turkey, Iraq, Iran (UPSC 1991).
  • ‘Imagined community’ is Benedict Anderson's phrase; NCERT does not name him.
  • Germany and Italy were unified, not broken up, by 19th-century nationalism.
  • Tagore supported independence; he criticised narrow patriotism, not freedom.
  • Tagore distinguished opposing imperialism from rejecting western civilisation.
  • NCERT's preferred basis is shared political values, not common culture.
  • Self-determination does not mean every group has a right to secede.
  • Quebec's referendums (1980, 1995) and Scotland's (2014) all voted to stay.
  • ‘Union of States’ (Article 1) — not a federation formed by agreement of states.

How to strategise

Prelims — what UPSC asks

  • Separatist movements: the Basques in Spain (1997, 2003) and the Kurds in Iraq, Iran and Turkey (1991). Learn where each group NCERT names lives — Quebecois, Basques, Kurds, Tamils — and basic dates of referendums and accords.

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

  • GS1: Gandhi and Tagore on education and nationalism (2023) — the Tagore box and the 1921 debate; cultural elements of diversity and national identity (2015) and unity in diversity (2026) — NCERT's political-not-cultural nation and pluralism; regionalism and separate-state demands (2013) — self-determination reinterpreted.
  • GS2: ‘sovereign nationalism’ as globalisation wanes (2025) — the page-99 cartoon debate and nationalism's phases. GS4: patriotism in everyday civil life (2014) — NCERT's obligations as the test of loyalty.
  • Answer frame: define nation and nationalism → five bases → civic vs cultural → self-determination and its paradox → pluralism and multinational accommodation → Tagore's critique and multiple identities. Attribute every historical position; on live disputes, give dated facts and both sides.

Self-check

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

1. According to NCERT, a nation is best described as:

2. Which example does NCERT give of nationalism unifying smaller units into a larger nation-state?

3. UPSC 1997: The Basque separatist organisation is active in:

4. UPSC 1991: The Kurds, who have fought for a separate homeland, live mainly in Iraq,

5. NCERT argues that in a democracy the nation should be imagined primarily in terms of:

6. The idea of ‘one culture — one state’ was used to redraw borders after:

7. Tagore's critique held that:

8. According to NCERT, the right to national self-determination has been reinterpreted to mean:

UPSC questions from this chapter

Open any question to attempt it in the Question bank — your attempt is saved to your progress.

Prelims

3 questions · newest first
2003Prelims GSThe Basque people who are frequently in the news for their separatist activity live inAttempt →1997Prelims GSThe Basque separatist organisation is active inAttempt →1991Prelims GSKurds who have been fighting for a separate homeland live mainly in Iraq,Attempt →

Mains

6 questions
2026GS1Unity in diversity remains the defining feature of Indian society despite the challenges from communalism and regionalism. Comment. (Answer in 150 words)Write answer →2025GS2"With the waning of globalization, post-Cold War world is becoming a site of sovereign nationalism." Elucidate. (Answer in 150 words)Write answer →2023GS1What was the difference between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore in their approach towards education and nationalism? (Answer in 150 words)Write answer →2015GS1Describe any four cultural elements of diversity in India and rate their relative significance in building a national identity. (Answer in 200 words)Write answer →2014GS4In the context of defence services, ‘patriotism’ demands readiness to even lay down one’s life in protecting the nation. According to you, what does patriotism imply in everyday civil life? Explain with illustrations and justify your answer. (Answer in 150 words)Write answer →2013GS1Growing feeling of regionalism is an important factor in the generation of demand for a separate state. Discuss. (Answer in 200 words)Write answer →

3 Prelims and 6 Mains UPSC questions are linked to this chapter. More from Political Theory.