State – Nation – Education. an Essay to Discussing an Unsolved Educational Issue in the European Context

This essay is focused on a critical approach to the concept of a nation state which has been built on the exclusive domination of one ethnic group and on one ’national language’. This concept which traces back to the emergence of the ‘nation state’ in the 18th century and is illustrated by a few historical examples has proved, in most cases, not to be based on real facts, but rather on the ideological concept of a narrow nationalism. Consequently, this analysis ends up with the plea for the state as a community to be built on the acknowledgment of multiple identities and multilingualism.