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In his book Nationalism (1960), Elie Kedourie describes nationalism as “a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century,” emphasizing the artificial character of this ideology that combines the political idea of self-government with anthropological notions of shared national characteristics. To understand the development of nationalism, Kedourie looks back into some events and ideas that form the history and set the background for the creation of the ideology.
Kedourie traces the beginning of nationalism to the historical event of the French Revolution and the philosophy connected with Kant’s categorical imperative. The French Revolution (1789) introduced the concept that sovereignty rested on the authority of the Nation, or in other words, the will of the people. Sovereignty no longer derived from the absolute power of royal government but from the “governed,” who could call into question the legitimacy of the power if they didn’t support it.
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Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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