Peoples and nations: cultural and political collective self-identification

This article presents and defends a distinction between cultural and political sources of social identities. The term peoples will be used to refer to cultural collective entities; nations will be understood as groups whose primary source of self-identification is derived from their common democratic political aim. The distinction allows us to recognise cultural pluralism in modern democratic states without losing sight of the need for common democratic political self-awareness – a common national identity. It is able to avoid the problem of ‘nation-building’ through cultural assimilation of smaller groups, as well as to foster common political belonging without the pressure of cultural uniformity. In practical terms, moreover, separating between cultural and political social identities can provide a solid platform which will enable a democratic state to survive its own socio-cultural diversity and the perpetual movement of peoples throughout geographical space.