{"id":54649,"date":"2021-11-20T13:07:01","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T17:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=54649"},"modified":"2021-11-21T13:10:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T17:10:46","slug":"theory-of-nationalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where does the idea of “nationalism” stem from? What is Benedict Anderson’s theory of nationalism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Benedict Anderson, the author of Imagined Communities<\/em>, the nation is simply a social construct<\/a>. It has no biological or historical basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading for Anderson’s nationalism theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nations Are Created Concepts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Benedict Anderson’s theory of nationalism says that, given this deep level of emotional commitment, it\u2019s easy to assume that nations represent a natural way of organizing human beings into political communities. However, Anderson argues that this assumption is wrong\u2014the nation in its modern form is a relatively recent political invention, going back no further than the 18th century <\/strong>(we\u2019ll explore this history later in this summary).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He writes that the nation\u2014and the ideology of nationalism that sustains it\u2014was created <\/em>by a unique combination of historical forces that came together at a particular time. Nations are not \u201cnatural\u201d or \u201ceternal.\u201d Instead, nations and national communities are <\/strong>constructed <\/em><\/strong>identities. They have no \u201creal\u201d or \u201corganic\u201d basis in biological science or history.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racial and Pseudoscientific Theories<\/strong>

Although nations may be politically engineered communities, this does not mean that nationalist theorists haven\u2019t tried to define the nation in terms of some essential, biological, natural basis. 

This was one of the primary goals of the pseudoscientific racial theorists of the 19th century. These figures, often heavily influenced by Charles Darwin\u2019s theory of species struggle and survival through natural selection<\/a>, believed that there was a racial and biological hierarchy of the world\u2019s peoples that could be categorized and classified like the animal and plant kingdoms\u2014and that, by virtue of their natural superiority, the white or \u201cAryan\u201d race belonged at the top of the proverbial food chain. 

The racial and pseudoscientific theories provide much of the ideological basis of modern-day arguments for who does or does not \u201cbelong\u201d in a national community, inspiring xenophobic politics the world over. This has perhaps been most acute in Europe<\/a>, where recent influxes of darker-skinned, predominately Muslim immigrants have sparked anxieties about whether or not the distinct national cultures and perceived ethnic identities of nations from France to Sweden are compatible with a growing population of non-white, non-Christian, non-Europeans.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nationalism Constructs a Single National Community<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anderson argues that nationalism socially constructs a shared identity that binds strangers from different communities together into a single national community<\/strong>. Although your nation may consist of tens of millions of people\u2014the overwhelming majority of whom you\u2019ll never personally know or even meet\u2014nationalism provides the intellectual framework for you to think of yourselves as members of a singular community with a shared identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gossip and Community Formation<\/strong>

Some evolutionary anthropologists have argued that even early humans managed to establish communities that extended beyond their immediate, personally known kin groups using a somewhat surprising mechanism\u2014gossip.

In The Happiness Hypothesis<\/em><\/a>, Jonathan Haidt argues that gossip, the sharing of social information about people, was likely an important element in group formation for early humans<\/a>. Gossip reinforced positive social norms<\/a> by making our ancestors aware of the misdeeds of people outside <\/em>the immediate kin group whom they may not have personally known\u2014bolstering both altruism and reciprocity, by ensuring that selfish people didn\u2019t receive cooperation, while altruistic people did.

In fact, evolutionary psychology suggests that gossip may have been one of the earliest purposes of language itself. The sharing of important social information that it facilitated enabled humans to survive in larger and larger social groups. And as we came to live in settled agricultural communities where we needed to interact with greater numbers of people, natural selection favored the evolution of larger brains to accommodate for new and necessary cognitive tools like language. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Insiders and Outsiders<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anderson further argues that nations are an effective means for sorting people into in-groups and out-groups\u2014people who belong to the national community and people who don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because nationalism is constructed, an outsider usually can\u2019t \u201cprove\u201d that they belong to the national community by appealing to some neutral, empirical evidence. Instead, those already within <\/em>the community establish the rules for who does and doesn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules for who does and doesn’t belong don\u2019t always permanently prevent outsiders from becoming part of a nation. Most modern nations have processes of naturalization whereby outsiders can legally become part of the national community and gain citizenship by adopting and conforming to that nation\u2019s rules. Sometimes this process is based on pre-established rules of \u201cbelonging\u201d\u2014some nations automatically extend the option of citizenship to certain classes of people outside their borders on the basis of religion, as with Israel\u2019s Law of Return, which extends the option of citizenship to any Jewish person willing to settle in the country, or on the basis of familial descent, as with Ireland\u2019s nationality laws, which allow any person living anywhere in the world to apply for Irish nationality if they have one grandparent born in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this possibility of an \u201coutsider\u201d joining the national community, Anderson argues that there is a fundamentally exclusive character to nationalism. <\/strong>Unlike religion or other secular political ideologies, nationalism does not\u2014and by definition cannot<\/em>\u2014make claims to universality. Anyone can become a Buddhist; anyone can become a communist; but not everyone can become Japanese. According to Anderson, there must <\/em>be people who fall outside the bounds of the nation, because a nation\u2019s constructed identity is as much about what it <\/strong>isn\u2019t <\/em><\/strong>as about what it <\/strong>is<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we explore Anderson\u2019s analysis of what it means to be a member of a nation, it\u2019s important to distinguish between two related but separate concepts\u2014nationality and citizenship. 

Under international law, nationality is usually an attribute acquired by birth or descent. It is a \u201cnatural\u201d state\u2014simply by being a living human, you have nationality somewhere. Citizenship is a legal <\/em>concept, establishing the relationship between an individual and a state, including the benefits and obligations that person has by virtue of their citizenship. But citizenship can exist entirely separate from nationality<\/a>. 

For example, according to the Constitution of Mexico, all persons born in Mexican territory or born abroad to Mexican citizens are considered Mexican nationals. Thus, they automatically acquire nationality at birth. However, they only become citizens <\/em>with enumerated legal rights and responsibilities upon turning 18.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where does the idea of “nationalism” stem from? What is Benedict Anderson’s theory of nationalism? According to Benedict Anderson, the author of Imagined Communities, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis. Continue reading for Anderson’s nationalism theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":54664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,9,24],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-54649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-psychology","category-society","tag-imagined-communities","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nBenedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\"},\"wordCount\":1070,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Imagined Communities\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\",\"name\":\"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg\",\"width\":1165,\"height\":730},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism - Shortform Books","description":"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism","og_description":"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1165,"height":730,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism","datePublished":"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/"},"wordCount":1070,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","keywords":["Imagined Communities"],"articleSection":["Politics","Psychology","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/","name":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-20T17:07:01+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-21T17:10:46+00:00","description":"According to Benedict Anderson's theory of nationalism, the nation is simply a social construct. It has no biological or historical basis.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","width":1165,"height":730},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/theory-of-nationalism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Benedict Anderson: A Different Theory of Nationalism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/country-flags.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54649"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54973,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54649\/revisions\/54973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}