Pan-nationalism is a form of
nationalism distinguished by the large-scale of the claimed national territory, and because it often defines the nation on the basis of a ‘‘cluster’’ of cultures and ethnic groups. It shares the general nationalist
ideology, that the
nation is a fundamental unit of human social life, that it is the only legitimate basis for the
state. Some pan-nationalisms, such as
pan-Germanism, were mono-ethnic, like standard nationalism. The prefix ‘pan-’ was used, because the ethnic Germans were dispersed over much of Central Europe. In other cases pan-nationalists speak of the ‘peoples’ (for instance ‘the Turkiç peoples’), whereas classic nation-states have one ethnicity, culture and language.