The Swiss (German die Schweizer, French les Suisses, Italian gli Svizzeri) form a nationality, and although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, it is not a nation-state, and the Swiss do not form a single ethnic group but a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the ethnic sense of the term.Dissent to the effect that the state should be re-oriented along ethnic lines is constrained to far-right and völkisch circles such as the PNOS and remains a fringe position (held by far below 1% of Swiss citizens) in direct opposition to the letter and spirit of the Swiss Constitution.