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National identity is a person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one

shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status. Yoonmi Lee sees national identity in

psychological terms as "an awareness of difference" - "a feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they'".[1]

National identity is not an inborn trait; various studies[which?] have shown that a person's national identity results

directly from the presence of elements from the "common points" in people's daily lives: national

symbols, language, national colours, the nation's history, national consciousness, blood

ties, culture,music, cuisine, radio, television, etc.[citation needed]

The expression of one's national identity seen in a positive light is patriotism, and the negative is chauvinism.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 Formation and development

2 Issues

3 Other resources

4 See also

5 References

Formation and development[edit]

The national identity of most citizens of a state or nation tends to strengthen when the country or nation is

threatened militarily, economically or culturally—or when the nation has in fact been totally taken over by an

alien empire, as in the case of Poland, which remained totally partitioned

among Russia, Prussia (subsequently, Germany) and Austria in the years 1795-1918. Indeed, the formation of

nations and sovereign states — whether by fission or by fusion — has historically been promoted by common

external threats.

A sense of belonging to a nation may strengthen when an external threat becomes clearer, causing individuals

to seek to unite with fellow-countrymen for mutual protection against the common threat.[citation needed] An example

is the development of Taiwanese identity (versus Chinese identity), which strengthened after the Republic of

China (ROC) became known internationally as "Taiwan" after losing its UN Seat, and particularly starting in the

late 1990s when it became clear that "China" (People's Republic of China) threatens Taiwan militarily and to

"conquer and unite" Taiwan, especially in the face of increased popular support for Taiwan independence and

tries to affect Taiwan's politics through "missile tests" and media rhetoric. Although the official country name is

"Republic of China" and its residents have been taught that their country is "China" and self-references in the

educational system, textbooks, and school public announcements refer to students as "we Chinese..." in the

1980s and 1990s, growing numbers of adults in the 2000s started identifying themselves as "Taiwanese" in the

face of hostile Chinese stance and military threat in the 2000s and the Pan-Green Coalition's promotion

of Taiwanese identity.

Issues[edit]

In some cases where national identity collides with a person's civil identity. For example, many Israeli

Arabs associate themselves or are associated with the Arab or Palestinian nationality, while at the same time

they are citizens of the state of Israel, which is in conflict with the Palestinians and with many Arab countries.

The Taiwanese also face an identity crisis: a conflict of national identity with civil identity, in which residents are

issued national identification cards and passports under the country name "Republic of China", but a certain

portion of them do not feel comfortable about viewing their country as "China". This is also a reason why

the Democratic Progressive Party advocates formal "Taiwan Independence" and renaming the country as

"Republic of Taiwan".

Also, there are cases in which the national identity of a particular group is oppressed by the government in the

country where the group lives. A notable example was in Spain under theauthoritarian dictatorship of Francisco

Franco (1939-1947) who abolished the official status and recognition of the Basque, Galician,

and Catalan languages for the first time in the history of Spainand returned to Spanish as the only official

language of the State and education, although millions of the country's citizens spoke other languages.