Nationality - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

NATIONALITY, a somewhat vague term, used strictly in international law (see International Law, Private) for the status of membership in a nation or state (for the conditions of which see State, Allegiance, Naturalization, Alien), and in a more extended sense in political discussion to denote an aggregation of persons claiming to represent a racial, territorial or some other bond of unity, though not necessarily recognized as an independent political entity. In this latter sense the word has often been applied to such people as the Irish, the Armenians and the Czechs. A "nationality" in this connexion represents a common feeling and an organized claim rather than distinct attributes which can be comprised in a strict definition.