The Author shows that different theories of nationalism were applied to Polish national thought, but were not able to explain why this national thought developed. She develops another method to show, why this was possible. Analyzing the case of Poland as specific, because it had no state during the birth of modern nationalism, she underlines. that the evolution of a national ideology was mainly possible, because it was linked to the European context. Her method is a functional-comparative. She shows, that an imagined "competition of European nations" was crucial for the evolution of the Polish national identity. In this context she mentions, that the evolution of the national ideology in Poland cannot be explained only by Polish thought. The article also shows, that projects for Europe are linked with ideas for the Polish nation. On the other side the Author points out, that not only the European context but also a comparison of different enthic groups in the divided country itself were one of the reasons for the dynamics of the evolving national thought.