Loyalty to the nation can mobilize populations and redraw maps. Nationalism is an ideology and political movement that prioritizes the interests and identity of a particular nation, often seeking self-determination or the alignment of state borders with national community.

Modern nationalism intensified in the nineteenth century alongside print culture, mass education, and the decline of dynastic multiethnic empires. It has taken liberal, cultural, and ethnic forms, sometimes inclusive and sometimes aggressively exclusive. Independence movements, unification campaigns, and inter-state conflicts have all drawn on nationalist appeals.

Historians study the construction of national narratives, symbols, and enemies. Nationalism has legitimized both democratic self-government and aggressive expansion. Its relationship to ethnicity, language, and civic values remains a central issue in political life across many regions.

• Ideology prioritizing national identity and interests
• Often seeks self-determination or unified statehood
• Intensified in the 19th century
• Can be inclusive or exclusionary in practice