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the idea of a 'national' identity
Which is just an idea peddled by people it suits. I live in London and have very little in common with the good people of Worcestershire but a lot more in common with the folks of Glasgow and Brussels. Sadly the combination of numbers and our voting system means the little Englanders get all the power.
jellybaby-
That's why I said "It depends where you're looking from."
I'm suggesting considering a less UK, less euro-centric viewpoint. -
Which is just an idea peddled by people it suits.
Is that really all it is? I agree the media and the politicians have a lot to answer for (don't they always) but is that really all there is to it?
For me personally "being English" and my relationship to that is something I've had to grapple with quite a lot. I know others who take it completely for granted and never question it, and others who feel absolutely no connection with it and consider it utterly irrelevant. It's a construct, but it still matters.
hoefla
It's quite possible that I don't understand what nationalism means, but the gathering of popular support around the idea of a 'national' identity and the idea of self-determination in particular was important for huge numbers of people around the world in the mid-20th century. Your analysis seems incredibly dismissive.
I'm agreeing with @fizzy.bleach and not really adding anything except taking it a bit more personally. The governing regimes that have followed colonialism have been varied and none perfect but I would place the large part of the blame of problematic boundaries on the legacy of colonialism and power meddling rather than the desire of ordinary people not to be ruled and dominated by a foreign empire. In many countries "divide-and-rule and killing people" are associated as the mechanisms of colonial invasion, not nationalism. It depends where you're looking from.