The marriage of state and nation in European constitutions

This article maps out the role played by national identity in modern European constitutions. It does this by comparing its impact on constitutions across Gellner's time zones of European nationalism, and shows how the impact of nationalism has increased gradually over time, and is now strongest in Central and Eastern Europe. It concludes with a reflection on why this has been the case, and why constitutional politics have increasingly lent themselves to nationalist influences in the modern era.