In 1789 Sieyès defined the nation as “un corps d'associés vivant sous une loi commune et représentés par la même législature.” In so doing, he gave expression to an idea that would follow a remarkable historical course and develop a complex and ambiguous logic. In this study we attempt to clarify this ambiguity, thereby gaining some insight into the complicated relationship between democracy and nationalism.
The revolutionary idea of the nation, expressed by Sieyès, did not come out of thin air, but arose within a process of social and political transformation which began long before the French Revolution. By attempting to establish its sovereign power and found a state, the French monarchy came into conflict with regional and other traditional powers with whom it had previously shared power as primus inter pares. The absolutist state founders discovered how important it was to have the community united behind them, so they sought to create feelings of national unity that would transcend the old regional loyalties and make France a ‘patria’ in the minds of the people, with the king as its incarnation and guarantor.