Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethno-nationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation is defined in terms of ethnicity.The central theme of ethnic nationalists is that "nations are defined by a shared heritage, which usually includes a common language, a common faith, and a common ethnic ancestry". It also includes ideas of a culture shared between members of the group, and with their ancestors. While some types of ethnic nationalism are firmly routed in the idea of ethnicity (or race) as an immutable inherited characteristic (for example white nationalism), often ethnic nationalism also manifests in the assimilation of minority ethnic groups into the dominant group (for example as with Italianisation). This assimilation may or may not be predicated in a belief in some common ancestry with assimilated groups (for example with Germanisation in the Second World war). While in some cases the division between ethnic and civic nationalism is clear (France being the archetypal example of a national identity routed in civic and linguistic nationalism), in other cases the division is less clear, for example with Turkish nationalism.
