The Political Philosophy of “the Nation”: Idea, Reality, and the Constitution
The Political Philosophy of “the Nation”: Idea, Reality, and the Constitution

Summary/Abstract: When we think of our understanding of the category of ‘the nation’, turning to the most important official document and source for which this category is central – namely, the constitution of the modern democratic state – could yield new insights into how the category of ‘nation’ could be understood and interpreted. No other document is focused on ‘the nation’ and/or ‘the people’ to such an extent and, likewise, no other act seems so dependent on a particular understanding of the term of ‘the nation’/‘the people’. In this study, I decided to analyze how specific constitutions of selected democratic states (particularly in Europe) choose to define the category of ‘the people’/‘the nation’, and why, providing contemporary explanations as well as exploring relevant historical background of how the understanding of this capital category came to be shaped. This perspective serves as lens through which I examine ‘the nation’ as a sociological and political category.

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