Supernationalism - a level of identity above the national, but below the cosmopolitan. A supernational unit typically consists of several nations united by shared culture, religion, or sometimes political ideology.
Historical examples include:
- Islamic Umma
- Medieval European Christendom
- Western civilization
- Pan-Africanism
- Eurasianism
Broadening horizon of identification[]
Carl Sagan wrote about broadening horizon of identification. Thus, in the Paleolithic era the focus of identity were bands of 50-150 people. Then in the Neolithic larger tribes emerged, numbering over 1000 people. In the Bronze Age there were first nations like Pharaohs' Egypt and the Sumerian group of city-states in the III Millennium BC and many others from Chinese warring kingdoms to King David's Israel in the II Millennium BC. Finally in the Middle Ages nation-states became the dominant focus of identity and organization across most of Eurasia and Northern Africa.
Now, arguably, the supernational level becomes dominant, level of identification, as showed by growth of supernational organizations like the European Union. Many people identify as Westerners more readily than as members of a specific nation, especially while confronted with Islamic extremism or radical social justice activism. But there is also a strong opposition to "federalization" of the EU, and Britain has chosen Brexit to abandon it altogether.