This text came out of the lectures in the fifth symposium of The Academic Advisory Council of the City of Krefeld, and is devoted to the problem of nationalism, particularly in Germany and America, and also from a historical perspective.

Introduction, Hermann Wellenreuther; nationalism and civil rights, Ernst Benda. Part 1 The political nation - republicanism and monarchism as embodiments and fulfillments of the nation: Sessional papers - ideology and nationalism on the eve of the American Revolution, revisions once more in need of revising, T.H. Breen; monarchism as national ideology, Peter Burg; comment, James H. Hutson and Volker Depkat; discussion. Part 2 National symbols and representations of the nation in literature, architecture and the arts: Sessional papers - nationbuilding and nation-buildings, Washington art and architecture and the symbols of American nationalism, Dietmar Schirmer; culture as an expression of nationalist values in Germany, Rudigervom Bruch; comment, Sander Gilman and Ute Schneider; discussion. Part 3 The nation at war - defensive and offensive modes of national self-assertion: Sessional papers- the logic of colonial violence, Germany in Southwest Africa (1904-1907), the United States in the Philippines (1899-1902), Helmut Walser Smith; the nation at arms, concepts of nationalism and war in Germany, 1866-1914, Stig Forster; comment, Peter Loewenberg and Ralf Proeve; discussion. Part 4 National past and national future - the writing of national history: Sessional papers - the renaissance of the nation state and the historians, Wolfgang J. Mommsen; the redefinition of America in the 20th century, John Higham; comment, Peter Burke et al; discussion. Part 5 Political and social movements supporting and opposing nationalism: Sessional papers - nationalism and social protest in America, Anne Firor Scott; youth movements as national protest cultures in germany, Peter Brandt; ethnic American nationalism, Wilson J. Moses; comment, Thomas J. Curan and Norbert Finzsch; discussion.