This essay examines the idea of the nation, from the time of Marx to the discussions on globalization in the late 20th century.
Thus, the theories and opinions of Karl Marx, the Second International, Austro-Marxism and Otto Bauer, Stalin, Gramsci, E.P. Thompson, Nikos Poulantzas, Etienne Balibar, Hannah Arendt, Benedict Anderson, Habermas, Hardt and Negri, and Agamben are successively examined.
The idea of the nation, in a world with an unknown future, becomes an anchor of certainty, a boat of escape. But for others, it means an impassable line that keeps them out. The ambivalence towards the future turns into ambivalence towards the nation.
If we need to revisit how those who wanted to change the world thought about the nation, it is to understand the changes that rearrange the relationships on which the nation-state was formed, and to think about history by considering expectations as a constituent element.