--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The U.S. has always understood itself to…" description: "\"The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around political principles and not around culture, whereas the nations of Europe have a much more t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg" --- # The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around… ![“The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around political principles and not around culture, whereas the nations of Europe have a much more traditional conception of nationhood that is connected to romanticism, which thinks of religion and culture as ingredients of nationhood.” quote by Martha Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg) > “The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around political principles and not around culture, whereas the nations of Europe have a much more traditional conception of nationhood that is connected to romanticism, which thinks of religion and culture as ingredients of nationhood.” [Martha Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-nussbaum/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The U.S. defines nationhood by shared political ideals, while Europe ties it to cultural and religious heritage. **In simple terms:** America focuses on politics; Europe on culture. Key Takeaway Recognize differing national identities. Themes politics national identity culture history comparative politics Mood analytical critical thoughtful Type philosophical academic commentary When to use this quote - policy analysis - international relations - education - media commentary - public discourse Key Concepts civic nationalism ethnic nationalism romanticism Questions to Reflect On - How do these differing views affect foreign policy? - Can a hybrid model reconcile both perspectives? A Different Perspective Cultural ties can be exclusionary and conflict‑prone. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Europe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/europe/) [Nationhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nationhood/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principles/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Romanticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/romanticism/) ## Related quotes > [We British play an important role in Europe, even if we have a traditional and historical ambivalence towards the continent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-barber/we-british-play-an-important-role-in-europe-even-if-we-have-a/) [Lionel Barber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-barber/) > [When we began Starbucks, what I wanted to try to do was to create a set of values, guiding principles, and culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-schultz/when-we-began-starbucks-what-i-wanted-to-try-to-do-was-to-create-a/) [Howard Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-schultz/) > [Nationhood is more likely to guarantee autocracy, decadence and corruption than real democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-dansky/nationhood-is-more-likely-to-guarantee-autocracy-decadence-and/) [Martin Dansky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-dansky/) > [Our civic society is really all we have by way of nationhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cokie-roberts/our-civic-society-is-really-all-we-have-by-way-of-nationhood/) [Cokie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cokie-roberts/) > [In the past, most wars were motivated by the idea of nationhood. Today, however, wars are incited above all using religion as an excuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shimon-peres/in-the-past-most-wars-were-motivated-by-the-idea-of-nationhood-today/) [Shimon Peres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shimon-peres/) > [I was born to two people who helped me imbibe feelings of nationhood in my heart and love for the country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sushmita-sen/i-was-born-to-two-people-who-helped-me-imbibe-feelings-of-nationhood/) [Sushmita Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sushmita-sen/) > [No one has a monopoly on our unending story of nationhood; no one has the manual for our nationhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tamihere/no-one-has-a-monopoly-on-our-unending-story-of-nationhood-no-one-has/) John Tamihere > [“All nationhood is to some extent the artificial, the product of historical accident, the convenience of tyrants and the disengagement of colonists.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-monbiot/all-nationhood-is-to-some-extent-the-artificial-the-product-of/) [George Monbiot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-monbiot/) > [The achievement of nationhood is a product not only of time and circumstance but usually of war and suffering as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-pfaff/the-achievement-of-nationhood-is-a-product-not-only-of-time-and/) [William Pfaff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-pfaff/) > [Within the next hundred years...nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority... 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Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) [Browse all 15,940 Culture quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around political principles and not around culture, whereas the nations of Europe have a much more traditional conception of nationhood that is connected to romanticism, which thinks of religion and culture as ingredients of nationhood.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha Nussbaum" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-nussbaum/the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to-be-united-around-political/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Culture" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-nussbaum/the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to-be-united-around-political/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/martha-nussbaum-4759_culture_the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to_639058.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The U.S. has always understood itself to be united around political principles and not around culture…” — Martha Nussbaum", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Martha Nussbaum", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-nussbaum/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The U.S. has always understood itself...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-nussbaum/the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to-be-united-around-political/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-nussbaum/the-u-s-has-always-understood-itself-to-be-united-around-political/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```