This was, of course, likely to lead to problems when a nation that had been created by a state was not what the various ethnic groups would have wished. Thus, the idea of the nation state as the medium for modernization and group relations was flawed at its inception. It was to provide a basis for many ethnic conflicts as it was disseminated throughout the world and as the crisis of modernization deepened. One of the oldest explanations, and one which is popular with the public at large, is that people have been the way they are from time immemorial, i.e. defined by language, custom, religion, race and territory. Ethnic consciousness expresses deeply rooted human sentiments.
Conflict is thus inevitable when a country is inhabited by more than one ethnic group.
This explanation identifies a major strand in human behaviour, nepotism, that can be activated when groups are already conscious of their identity and feel a need to protect it. An alternative explanation of why people attach importance to ethnic identities, and one that informs much current analysis of ethnicity, stresses the constructed nature of identities. The fact that people share a common language, religion, culture, race or territory does not mean that they live their lives on the basis of such affinities or even that they are conscious of them. Ethnic consciousness needs to be created for it to have an impact on collective consciousness. Concrete social experiences are often important in the construction of such consciousness.