Romantic nationalism (also
national romanticism,
organic nationalism,
identity nationalism) is the form of
nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes, depending on the particular manner of practice, the
language,
race,
culture,
religion, and
customs of the "
nation" in its primal sense of those who were "born" within its culture. This form of nationalism arose in reaction to dynastic or imperial
hegemony, which assessed the legitimacy of the state from the "top down", emanating from a monarch or other authority, which justified its existence. Such downward-radiating power might ultimately derive from a god or gods (see the
divine right of kings and the
Mandate of Heaven).