It is important to distinguish the meanings of nation and ethnie. As Anthony D. Smith notes, the term ethnie is the same as an ethnic group,but generally this term is used to describe larger entities. Their main distinguishing characteristic is nation’s relation with politics. Nation possess or it aspires to gain the status of nationhood. Nation is bound with the territory (the place of it’s residence) and popular culture (shared by the most of its members)[1].
Anthony D. Smith points to some distinguish characteristics of these two concepts: nation is a variety of ethnie and is formed as a result of a gradual development of ethnie. Ethnie is a historical-cultural entity and is totally different from a nation – being a monolithic unity, popular culture, historical territory and legal rights. To summarize, nation simply refers to the aspects like territory, education and legal rights, while other characteristics – kinship and cultural features – are left out of it’s scope; although some links with an old cultural myths and with the memory of ethnie is maintained. Ethnie can be considered to be the primordial form of a nation, sometimes referred as a proto-nation. Ethnie stands for the basic cultural unit, characterizing the human diversity before the existence of a nation. On the other hand, nation stands for the modern version of an archaic ethnie.[2]
[1]Nationalism Study Project: Anthony D. Smith – Nationalism and the Reconstruction of Nations http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm
[2]Ghelabi V.Y. Ethnicity in International Conflicts: Revisiting an Elusive Issue
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