Issue #25

Abstract: The purpose of the article is to consider the possibility that the usual manner of sloppy play with such concepts as country, people, nation, power, national spirit, etc. grows out of the need any government has to give itself greater legitimacy, pretending to be a kind of natural process based on eternal essences, and not a technology to fulfill the interests of a limited group based on the ability to force. And if the ambiguity of a patriotic or nationalistic discourse cannot be completely eliminated, awareness of such tricks may still be helpful.