"Nationalism, as a political movement, has taken a variety of forms. In some cases a preexisting social unit defines itself as a nation and then endeavors to secure its own state. It also commonly happens in colonial situations, however, that a small local vanguard — typically a "middle group" between the colonial elite and the masses — is faced with the twin tasks of creating a nation out of formerly distinct social groups in order to underpin their legitimacy for taking the state. A third basic type of nationalism occurs when a small leading group secures the state and then engages a posteriori in processes of nation-building. Actually, the Zimbabwean case combines the latter two types of nationalism at different historical stages, and nationalism typically requires ongoing processes of nation-building or maintenance."