At the end f the XX-th century the increasing importance of national affairs, both inside countries and in their mutual relations is to be seen. It caused that the most im portant contem porary processes, which w ere expected to proceed in conditions of cultural and ethnic unification, are in reality accom panied by returning national resentments appearing in the majority groups and by the renew al of separate character in minority groups. Its result is reflection on dependencies between postulated models of social modernization and observed processes of reconstruction and consolidation of nationalties. In western literature these links are usually presented as relations between civic society and nationalism . The reference to that discussion needs not only taking into account the role of national identity power in formation of social order, but also the explanation of the term „nationalism ” in its main meaning and estimation of its usefulness in such studies. Less general and easier to define are the terms like: national ideology (movem ent, state), ethnic conflict (intolerance), xenophobia, chauvinism which seem to be more useful in analyses of mentioned problems.