the concept of world citizenship

...The love of one’s country, instilled and stressed by the teaching of Islám, as “an element of the Faith of God,” has not, through this declaration, this clarion-call of Bahá’u’lláh, been either condemned or disparaged...
 All it does imply and proclaim is the insufficiency of patriotism, in view of the fundamental changes effected in the economic life of society and the interdependence of the nations, and as the consequence of the contraction of the world, through the revolution in the means of transportation and communication—conditions that did not and could not exist either in the days of Jesus Christ or of Muḥammad.
It calls for a wider loyalty, which should not, and indeed does not, conflict with lesser loyalties.
It instills a love which, in view of its scope, must include and not exclude the love of one’s own country.
It lays, through this loyalty which it inspires, and this love which it infuses, the only foundation on which the concept of world citizenship can thrive, and the structure of world unification can rest. ...

Shoghi Effendi: The Promised Day Is Come