But government is largely self-administered and it has some trappings of nationhood - for example, competing in international sporting events under its own banner - and ended up under New Zealand's aegis only because of its colonial history.

BBC: Tokelau plans an all-renewables future

Its attempts to make Hindutva Hindu culture and customs the defining feature of Indian nationhood have been sporadic and half-hearted.

ECONOMIST: Knowing your onions in India

PDI-P, the mainstays of the Nationhood Coalition, do not have any ideological quarrels with the president.

ECONOMIST: Suck it and see

While there will always be people (including some Jews) who disagree with King about this, what the civil rights leader understood was that throughout its long and largely-persecuted history Judaism always held nationhood as a key pillar of Judaism.

FORBES: There He Goes Again: Egypt's Morsi Stuns U.S. Senators In Meeting With 'Jews-Control-Media' Slur

Fast-forward to the Revolution of 1789 and francien-derived French was imposed as the language of liberty and nationhood, its spread then aided by the emergence of a French press in the 19th century and, from 1882, by compulsory schooling.

ECONOMIST: How multilingual is France?

So there's no doubt that the economy, and perceptions of how it could be affected by independent nationhood, is going to play big in the next two years of campaigning - at least as big as questions of identity and calls on Braveheart patriotism.

BBC: Scottish independence: Braveheart or iPad?

Speaking to an audience of young Israelis in Jerusalem, Mr Obama praised Jewish nationhood before turning the argument around by stressing the need for Palestinians to share these same values of self-determination and justice.

BBC: Obama ends Middle East trip with visit to Petra ruins

Lawrence kick-started the Arab Revolt, but it was Gertrude who gave the Arabs a route to nationhood.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Gertrude Bell'