With a focus on the origins and evolution of political identity, this book explores the way different linguistic communities have defined kin, ethnicity, citizenship and the nation. As Neumann traces the transition over the last two centuries of European history, from the medieval to the modern age, he pays particular attention to the idealistic philosophies that have influenced the intellectual landscape and political discourse of European regions today, and which have intensified the division between East and West in terms of cultural norms, legislation and administration.