States of the imagination

Nation states appeal to the imagination. They claim ultimate authority, but simultaneously they have something arbitrary about them. The borders of the present-day Netherlands, for example, have only been fixed since 1949. In that year, the Netherlands gained an additional 69 square kilometres of German territory.

Practitioners of the hobby of geofiction design their own countries, complete with flags, maps, national anthems or even languages. ‘Micronationalists’ declare themselves king or president of their own state, such as their own back garden. Sometimes jokingly, sometimes in earnest.

Some reject the nation state entirely. After all, nationalism divides people into ‘countrymen’ and ‘foreigners’. It can unite people, but just as easily justify hatred, oppression or violence. Around 1900 in particular, hopes grew for a peaceful ‘nation’ for all humanity. Crucially, this was a time of violent border wars and increasingly aggressive nationalism. The Russian-Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwig Zamenhof even designed a whole new artificial language, Esperanto, to bridge national differences.

World government

The ideal of a peaceful world government dates back at least to the Enlightenment philosophies of the 18th century. Such ‘internationalism’ rose to new heights of popularity after the horrors of two world wars. Architects drew up plans for a world capital or centres of international law, such as the Peace Palace in The Hague. Organisations such as the EU and the UN embodied the hope for a peaceful world beyond aggressive nationalism. When the Council of Europe announced plans for a European flag in 1951, dozens of people sent in their own designs, unprompted.

Free states, imaginary states

On maps, the world appears to have been divided into nation states for centuries. The reality is usually a lot stranger and more complex. Until 1920, for example, there was a tiny piece of land south of Limburg called Neutral Moresnet, which officially belonged to no country. Such examples inspire micronationalists. They proclaim their own personal states, typically as a joke or parody of official states. Personal stamps or coins make the state even more ‘real’. In the practice of geofiction, the state is reduced entirely to its designed symbols. Many fictional states or ‘geos’ exist only as a map, flag, or currency.

Citizens of the world

With its history of aggression and exclusion, nationalism has always had its critics. Physicist Albert Einstein, for example, called it an ‘infantile disease’. Some advocate instead for a universal global citizenship. Ludwig Zamenhof, for example, saw his world language Esperanto as the key to a peaceful brotherhood of all humanity. In the 1940s, German-born sailor George Dibbern caused a stir with his personal flag and passport. He turned his back on the aggressive nationalist Nazi regime and travelled the globe as a ‘citizen of the world’.