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

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 exam— ABSTRAKT —