The concept of the 'nation'

[Black Sheep]

When did it emerge, and how/why?

A documentary i watched proposed that it was encouraged after Darwin's origin of species, which destroyed the God figure, and the "the king is god's appointed middle man" idea.

Do you accept that it has an objective meaning, a value, and why?

[Rooster]

I'm pretty sure it rose with the rise of republicanism around the time of the French revolution, and growing during the Napoleonic Wars.

[Bronco]

I'm pretty sure it rose with the rise of republicanism around the time of the French revolution, and growing during the Napoleonic Wars.

I agree, the Levee en Masse that was implemented during the Revolutionary Wars played a big part in this, basically conscripting all sectors of society to play some part in "defending the nation" be it fighting, or working in newly established factories etc.

It created a "nation-in-arms" that continued into the Napoleonic Wars and a similar concept was introduced later by the Prussians after they went about introducing Napoleonic reforms following their defeat to France in 1806. The Prussians also did the same during their wars of Unification in the latter half of the 19th century and then in WWI it really began to become prominent across Europe.

[Zanthorus]

Darwin's origin of species... destroyed the God figure, and the "the king is god's appointed middle man" idea.

I think the English Civil War and the increasing need of parliament to justify itself as an alternative sovereign power might have played a bit more of a role in quelling the divine right of kings than Darwin's book. It is, after all, a bit difficult to uphold that the guy you're fighting a war against/beheading is appointed by command of the lord almighty. Even among Royalists there was a shift away from arguing in the terms of the King's appointment by God to a more secular defence in terms of the need to maintain order against the anarchy that would necessarily result from the curtailment of the power of an absolute ruler (c.f. Hobbes Leviathan for the most famous example). I think the error here is in assuming that an attack on the divine right of kings doctrine necessarily needed to take the form of an attack on the concept of God itself. Although conservatives believed that religious toleration would allow the rise of secularist and atheist elements, and although they accused groups like the Ranters (who believed that basically it was impossible to commit sin and that sexual promiscuity was serving God's will) of being basically Atheist, I'm not aware of any examples of hostility to the existing social order at the time that actually came in secular guise.

Much more common was for opposition to be voiced in terms of a subversive religious doctrine such as Protestantism. The destruction of the concept that sovereign power was necessarily embodied in the king tended to lead in the democratic camp to the rise of doctrines that viewed all men (or, more typically, all free-born Englishmen. The radicals of the 17th century were not that radical) as equal before God and hence embued with certain natural rights. This tended to be the kind of argument that emanated from the democratic republicans of the Leveller camp, especially at the later phases of their development when appeals to English tradition and the Magna Carta started to seem more hollow. In fact I think it is not entirely contraversial to argue that the concept of the natural rights of man originates with the Levellers.

[redSHARP]

modern international politics is linked to the concept of national boundaries and borders.

following the religious conflicts after the reformation, rulers had to realize that their neighbor next door had the right to choose their religion. However, many rulers, especially France and the Hapsburgs fought many wars over political influence and to prevent the unification of Germany. These wars led to centralization of government and modern bureaucracy, which helped build a government which can exert power with out being held back by feudalism and an independent nobility (some nobles were more independent than others).
In the early 17th Century, the various religious wars merged into the 30 year war. this war ended in 1648 with the Peace Of Westphalia, this peace treaty establishes the foundation of national sovereignty, one of the keys to the nation state. The borders of Europe were drawn up and would not change till the French Revolution.