Nationalism is basically a collective state of mind or consciousness in which people believe their primary duty and loyality is to the nation state often nationalism implies national superiority and glorifies various national virtues . Thus love of nation may be overemphasised concern with national self interest to the exclusion of the lights of other nations may lead to international conflicts .
Nationalism is a comparatively recent phenomenon probably born with the french revolution but despite its short history , it has been that hold modern nations together . Today it operates alongside the legal structure and supplements the formal institutions of society in providing much of the cohensiveness and order necessary for the existence of modern nation state.
For people to express nationalism it is first necessary to them to identify themselves as belonging to a nation , that is a large group of people who have something in common . The rise of centralised monarchies which placed people under one rule and eliminated feudalism made this possible . The realisation that they might possess a common history ,religion, language or race also aided people in forming a national identity . When a common identity and a formal authoritt structure over a large territory exists , then nationalism becomes possible .