‘Governable space’ (Watts (2004) TIBG 29). The ethnic or cultural nation has ethnicity as the basis of membership, with culture as a key cohesive element. The cultural interpretation regards ‘nation’ as something organic, evolving on the basis of an aesthetic, primordial community, whereby ethnic group solidarity is based on ties passed down from the past, and hence the modern nation may be related to historical ethnicity. Culture and language are crucial cohesive elements of this community. In contrast, the territorial or civic nation has territory as the basis of membership and citizenship as the cohesive force (Robinson et al. (2001) Pol. Geog. 20, 8). Mavroudi (2007) Glob. Netwks 7, 4 shows that the nation is not a ‘given’ entity; see Uimonen (2003) Glob. Netwks 3, 3. Although many multinational states exist, E. Gellner (1983) argues that a mismatch between national and political units engenders nationalist movements; see Sekulic (1997) Nats. & National. 3, 2. L. Kong and B. Yeoh (2003) hold that, in post-independence Singapore, the creation of a fixed national identity has denied the population’s innate hybridity; see also Chua in J. S. Kahn, ed. (1998).