There was a "reaction" aspect to all nationalisms that basically were conjured into existence by a chain reaction going back to the very first one (French? Certainly Fr. Rev. inspired German nationalism) possibly. Also, in terms of "modernity", the rise of newspapers, literacy (i.e. schooling language disputes in lands ruled from Vienna and Constantinople), and newspapers(!) played a big role as the late Benedict Anderson made the case for in his classic <em>Imagined Communities</em>.
Don’t think it’s about people wanting to feel different...
Highly recommend this book. Read it in college.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1784786756/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_599Y23SJ39X68J2J00VF
Well, both the study I linked earlier and this book talk about those concepts and its ramifications in detail.
Yeah, it seems we're very much in a grey area of research where more data is needed to really confirm or disprove (at least my) prescriptions. At this point, I'm mostly just going by the "implications for public policy/society" written by the authors in these genetic inheritance of IQ studies (linked in earlier comments), which are supported by citations, but certainly don't constitute studies themselves.
> My suspicion is that it would just be intermediate given that studies between larger racial groups nearly all show exact intermediacy, which probably means that IQ is highly polygenic.
Well that's why I was wondering about the relationship of geographical IQ and genetic cluster, because clusters don't show that smooth gradient at the level of racial groups unless they skip over admixed areas. There are all these peoples that don't fall into larger, homogenous racial groups and they've gotta provide some interesting data points - if only to tie a smoother gradient to geography.
This is a bit of a personal conspiracy theory, but may be related to the degree that Russia interferes with Latvia:
I have Latvian friend who speaks glowingly of Latvian mythology and culture, and out of curiosity I browsed to the Latvian mythology Wikipedia page following a chat with her. I read through it, and was struck by how much it focused on the idea that Latvia's national myths are a very recent phenomena. Like, I'm somewhat familiar with the work of Benedict Anderson, but this was a Wikipedia page with a tone that was just out of keeping with what I usually come across.
I have the oddest suspicion that the page has been edited by pro-Russian agents.
I am begging you, please read this book.
There is a difference between a "polity/state" (what I assume you mean by country) and "nation." The Kurds are a nation, but lack a state (well I guess they have Rojava now, but that's contested).
I'd suggest reading this, or even better, the whole book