Considering the effects of globalization on the political performance opportunities of nation states, we may detect a more transnational orientation in policy formulation as a challenging factor. In Malaysia, e.g., issues of nationbuilding might be affected in various ways, reflecting either the chances offered by globalization or the structural strains accompanying this process while questioning the resilience of nation states as sovereign political actors. The paper thus inspects in how far strategies of nationbuilding change when the external conditions of diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing change. Malaysia offers a case in point, it is argued, to demonstrate the ever dynamic process of nationbuilding and change of the concept of nation. – The concept of nation is challenged constantly and hence embedded in an ongoing struggle for modification and renewal. The adjustment of nationbuilding strategies to changing conditions of shaping the concept of nation is examined with the help of the sociological approach of analyzing framing processes.