alt Hacker News> Every European nation state is built around ethnicity as the bedrock of society.
What do you mean by it being the bedrock of society? I haven't found ethnicity to be an important part about being a citizen here at all.
> Every European nation state is built around ethnicity as the bedrock of society.
What do you mean by it being the bedrock of society? I haven't found ethnicity to be an important part about being a citizen here at all.
> A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are congruent.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state
The traditional view taught in history books is as follows:
> Before the french revolution, states extended as far as their kings' military power allowed them to, and the king derived his claim to power from god.
> After the french revolution, states formed around the concept of a common shared ethnicity, language, and culture (nation), with the claim to power deriving from the people.
> This shared national identity was instrumental to the unification of many separate kingdoms into the German confederation.
EDIT: That view is not necessarily correct (see the comments below), but it is what most people will have learnt in school