A nation state (or nation-state), in the most
specific sense, is a country where a distinct
cultural or ethnic group (a "nation" or "people")
inhabits a territory and has formed a state
(often a sovereign state) that it predominantly
governs.
It is a more precise concept than "country",
since a country need not have a predominant
ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity,
may include a diaspora or refugees who live
outside the nation-state; some nations of
this sense do not have a state where that
ethnicity predominates.
In a more general sense, a nation-state is
simply a large, politically sovereign country
or administrative territory.
A nation-state may be contrasted with:
A multinational state, where no one ethnic
group dominates (may also be considered a
multicultural state depending on the degree
of cultural assimilation of various groups).
A city-state which is both smaller than a
"nation" in the sense of "large sovereign
country" and which may or may not be dominated
by all or part of a single "nation" in the
sense of a common ethnicity.
An empire, which is composed of many countries
(possibly non-sovereign states) and nations
under a single monarch or ruling state government.
A confederation, a league of sovereign states,
which might or might not include nation-states.
A federated state which may or may not be
a nation-state, and which is only partially
self-governing within a larger federation
(for example, the state boundaries of Bosnia
and Herzegovina are drawn along ethnic lines,
but those of the United States are not).This
article mainly discusses the more specific
definition of a nation-state, as a typically
sovereign country dominated by a particular
ethnicity.
== Complexity ==
The relationship between a nation (in the
ethnic sense) and a state can be complex.
The presence of a state can encourage ethnogenesis,
and a group with a pre-existing ethnic identity
can influence the drawing of territorial boundaries
or to argue for political legitimacy.
This definition of a "nation-state" is not
universally accepted.
"All attempts to develop terminological consensus
around "nation" resulted in failure", concludes
academic Valery Tishkov.Walker Connor discusses
the impressions surrounding the characters
of "nation", "(sovereign) state", "nation
state", and "nationalism".
Connor, who gave the term "ethnonationalism"
wide currency, also discusses the tendency
to confuse nation and state and the treatment
of all states as if nation states.
In Globalization and Belonging, Sheila L.
Crouche discusses "The Definitional Dilemma".
== History and origins ==
The origins and early history of nation states
are disputed.
A major theoretical question is: "Which came
first, the nation or the nation state?"
Scholars such as Steven Weber, David Woodward,
and Jeremy Black have advanced the hypothesis
that the nation state did not arise out of
political ingenuity or an unknown undetermined
source, nor was it an accident of history
or political invention; but is an inadvertent
byproduct of 15th-century intellectual discoveries
in political economy, capitalism, mercantilism,
political geography, and geography combined
together with cartography and advances in
map-making technologies.
It was with these intellectual discoveries
and technological advances that the nation
state arose.
For others, the nation existed first, then
nationalist movements arose for sovereignty,
and the nation state was created to meet that
demand.
Some "modernization theories" of nationalism
see it as a product of government policies
to unify and modernize an already existing
state.
Most theories see the nation state as a 19th-century
European phenomenon, facilitated by developments
such as state-mandated education, mass literacy
and mass media.
However, historians also note the early emergence
of a relatively unified state and identity
in Portugal and the Dutch Republic.In France,
Eric Hobsbawm argues, the French state preceded
the formation of the French people.
Hobsbawm considers that the state made the
French nation, not French nationalism, which
emerged at the end of the 19th century, the
time of the Dreyfus Affair.
At the time of the 1789 French Revolution,
only half of the French people spoke some
French, and 12–13% spoke the version of
it that was to be found in literature and
in educational facilities, according to Hobsbawm.During
the Italian unification, the number of people
speaking the Italian language was even lower.
The French state promoted the replacement
of various regional dialects and languages
by a centralised French language.
The introduction of conscription and the Third
Republic's 1880s laws on public instruction,
facilitated the creation of a national identity,
under this theory.Some nation states, such
as Germany and Italy, came into existence
at least partly as a result of political campaigns
by nationalists, during the 19th century.
In both cases, the territory was previously
divided among other states, some of them very
small.
The sense of common identity was at first
a cultural movement, such as in the Völkisch
movement in German-speaking states, which
rapidly acquired a political significance.
In these cases, the nationalist sentiment
and the nationalist movement clearly precede
the unification of the German and Italian
nation states.Historians Hans Kohn, Liah Greenfeld,
Philip White and others have classified nations
such as Germany or Italy, where cultural unification
preceded state unification, as ethnic nations
or ethnic nationalities.
However, "state-driven" national unifications,
such as in France, England or China, are more
likely to flourish in multiethnic societies,
producing a traditional national heritage
of civic nations, or territory-based nationalities.
Some authors deconstruct the distinction between
ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism because
of the ambiguity of the concepts.
They argue that the paradigmatic case of Ernest
Renan is an idealisation and it should be
interpreted within the German tradition and
not in opposition to it.
For example, they argue that the arguments
used by Renan at the conference What is a
nation? are not consistent with his thinking.
This alleged civic conception of the nation
would be determined only by the case of the
loss gives Alsace and Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian
War.The idea of a nation state was and is
associated with the rise of the modern system
of states, often called the "Westphalian system"
in reference to the Treaty of Westphalia (1648).
The balance of power, which characterized
that system, depended on its effectiveness
upon clearly defined, centrally controlled,
independent entities, whether empires or nation
states, which recognize each other's sovereignty
and territory.
The Westphalian system did not create the
nation state, but the nation state meets the
criteria for its component states (by assuming
that there is no disputed territory).The nation
state received a philosophical underpinning
in the era of Romanticism, at first as the
"natural" expression of the individual peoples
(romantic nationalism: see Johann Gottlieb
Fichte's conception of the Volk, later opposed
by Ernest Renan).
The increasing emphasis during the 19th century
on the ethnic and racial origins of the nation,
led to a redefinition of the nation state
in these terms.
Racism, which in Boulainvilliers's theories
was inherently antipatriotic and antinationalist,
joined itself with colonialist imperialism
and "continental imperialism", most notably
in pan-Germanic and pan-Slavic movements.The
relation between racism and ethnic nationalism
reached its height in the 20th century fascism
and Nazism.
The specific combination of "nation" ("people")
and "state" expressed in such terms as the
Völkische Staat and implemented in laws such
as the 1935 Nuremberg laws made fascist states
such as early Nazi Germany qualitatively different
from non-fascist nation states.
Minorities were not considered part of the
people (Volk), and were consequently denied
to have an authentic or legitimate role in
such a state.
In Germany, neither Jews nor the Roma were
considered part of the people and were specifically
targeted for persecution.
German nationality law defined "German" on
the basis of German ancestry, excluding all
non-Germans from the people.In recent years,
a nation state's claim to absolute sovereignty
within its borders has been much criticized.
A global political system based on international
agreements and supra-national blocs characterized
the post-war era.
Non-state actors, such as international corporations
and non-governmental organizations, are widely
seen as eroding the economic and political
power of nation states, potentially leading
to their eventual disappearance.
== Before the nation state ==
In Europe, during the 18th century, the classic
non-national states were the multiethnic empires,
the Austrian Empire, Kingdom of France, Kingdom
of Hungary, the Russian Empire, the Ottoman
Empire, the British Empire and smaller nations
at what would now be called sub-state level.
The multi-ethnic empire was an absolute monarchy
ruled by a king, emperor or sultan.
The population belonged to many ethnic groups,
and they spoke many languages.
The empire was dominated by one ethnic group,
and their language was usually the language
of public administration.
The ruling dynasty was usually, but not always,
from that group.
This type of state is not specifically European:
such empires existed on all continents, except
Australia and Antarctica.
Some of the smaller European states were not
so ethnically diverse, but were also dynastic
states, ruled by a royal house.
Their territory could expand by royal intermarriage
or merge with another state when the dynasty
merged.
In some parts of Europe, notably Germany,
very small territorial units existed.
They were recognised by their neighbours as
independent, and had their own government
and laws.
Some were ruled by princes or other hereditary
rulers, some were governed by bishops or abbots.
Because they were so small, however, they
had no separate language or culture: the inhabitants
shared the language of the surrounding region.
In some cases these states were simply overthrown
by nationalist uprisings in the 19th century.
Liberal ideas of free trade played a role
in German unification, which was preceded
by a customs union, the Zollverein.
However, the Austro-Prussian War, and the
German alliances in the Franco-Prussian War,
were decisive in the unification.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman
Empire broke up after the First World War,
and the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union
after the Russian Civil War.
A few of the smaller states survived: the
independent principalities of Liechtenstein,
Andorra, Monaco, and the republic of San Marino.
(Vatican City is a special case.
All of the larger Papal States save the Vatican
itself were occupied and absorbed by Italy
by 1870.
The resulting Roman Question was resolved
with the rise of the modern state under the
1929 Lateran treaties between Italy and the
Holy See.)
== 
Characteristics ==
"Legitimate states that govern effectively
and dynamic industrial economies are widely
regarded today as the defining characteristics
of a modern nation-state."Nation states have
their own characteristics, differing from
those of the pre-national states.
For a start, they have a different attitude
to their territory when compared with dynastic
monarchies: it is semisacred and nontransferable.
No nation would swap territory with other
states simply, for example, because the king's
daughter married.
They have a different type of border, in principle
defined only by the area of settlement of
the national group, although many nation states
also sought natural borders (rivers, mountain
ranges).
They are constantly changing in population
size and power because of the limited restrictions
of their borders.
The most noticeable characteristic is the
degree to which nation states use the state
as an instrument of national unity, in economic,
social and cultural life.
The nation state promoted economic unity,
by abolishing internal customs and tolls.
In Germany, that process, the creation of
the Zollverein, preceded formal national unity.
Nation states typically have a policy to create
and maintain a national transportation infrastructure,
facilitating trade and travel.
In 19th-century Europe, the expansion of the
rail transport networks was at first largely
a matter for private railway companies, but
gradually came under control of the national
governments.
The French rail network, with its main lines
radiating from Paris to all corners of France,
is often seen as a reflection of the centralised
French nation state, which directed its construction.
Nation states continue to build, for instance,
specifically national motorway networks.
Specifically transnational infrastructure
programmes, such as the Trans-European Networks,
are a recent innovation.
The nation states typically had a more centralised
and uniform public administration than its
imperial predecessors: they were smaller,
and the population less diverse.
(The internal diversity of the Ottoman Empire,
for instance, was very great.)
After the 19th-century triumph of the nation
state in Europe, regional identity was subordinate
to national identity, in regions such as Alsace-Lorraine,
Catalonia, Brittany and Corsica.
In many cases, the regional administration
was also subordinated to central (national)
government.
This process was partially reversed from the
1970s onward, with the introduction of various
forms of regional autonomy, in formerly centralised
states such as France.
The most obvious impact of the nation state,
as compared to its non-national predecessors,
is the creation of a uniform national culture,
through state policy.
The model of the nation state implies that
its population constitutes a nation, united
by a common descent, a common language and
many forms of shared culture.
When the implied unity was absent, the nation
state often tried to create it.
It promoted a uniform national language, through
language policy.
The creation of national systems of compulsory
primary education and a relatively uniform
curriculum in secondary schools, was the most
effective instrument in the spread of the
national languages.
The schools also taught the national history,
often in a propagandistic and mythologised
version, and (especially during conflicts)
some nation states still teach this kind of
history.Language and cultural policy was sometimes
negative, aimed at the suppression of non-national
elements.
Language prohibitions were sometimes used
to accelerate the adoption of national languages
and the decline of minority languages (see
examples: Anglicisation, Czechization, Francisation,
Italianization, Germanisation, Magyarisation,
Polonisation, Russification, Serbization,
Slovakisation).
In some cases, these policies triggered bitter
conflicts and further ethnic separatism.
But where it worked, the cultural uniformity
and homogeneity of the population increased.
Conversely, the cultural divergence at the
border became sharper: in theory, a uniform
French identity extends from the Atlantic
coast to the Rhine, and on the other bank
of the Rhine, a uniform German identity begins.
To enforce that model, both sides have divergent
language policy and educational systems.
== In practice ==
In some cases, the geographic boundaries of
an ethnic population and a political state
largely coincide.
In these cases, there is little immigration
or emigration, few members of ethnic minorities,
and few members of the "home" ethnicity living
in other countries.
Examples of nation states where ethnic groups
make up more than 85% of the population include
the following:
Albania: The vast majority of the population
is ethnically Albanian at about 98.6% of the
population, with the remainder consisting
of a few small ethnic minorities.
Armenia: The vast majority of Armenia's population
consists of ethnic Armenians at about 98%
of the population, with the remainder consisting
of a few small ethnic minorities.
Bangladesh: The vast majority ethnic group
of Bangladesh are the Bengali people, comprising
98% of the population, with the remainder
consisting of mostly Bihari migrants and indigenous
tribal groups.
Therefore, Bangladeshi society is to a great
extent linguistically and culturally homogeneous,
with very small populations of foreign expatriates
and workers, although there is a substantial
number of Bengali workers living abroad.
China: The vast majority of China's population
is Han, making up 92% of the population and
geographically distributed on the eastern
side of China.
The government also recognizes 55 ethnic minorities,
including Turks, Tibetans, Mongols and others.
Egypt: The vast majority of Egypt's population
consists of ethnic Egyptians at about 99%
of the population, with the remainder consisting
of a few small ethnic minorities, as well
as refugees or asylum seekers.
Modern Egyptian identity is closely tied to
the geography of Egypt and its long history;
its development over the centuries saw overlapping
or conflicting ideologies.
Though today an Arab people, that aspect constitutes
for Egyptians a cultural dimension of their
identity, not a necessary attribute of or
prop for their national political being.
Today most Egyptians see themselves, their
history, culture and language (the Egyptian
variant of Arabic) as specifically Egyptian
and at the same time as part of the Arab world.
Estonia: Defined as a nation state in its
1920 constitution, up until the period of
Soviet incorporation, Estonia was historically
a very homogenous state with 88.2% of residents
being Estonians, 8.2% Russians, 1.5% Germans
and 0.4% Jews according to the 1934 census.
As a result of Soviet policies the demographic
situation significantly changed with the arrival
of Russian speaking settlers.
Today Estonians form 69%, Russians 25.4%,
Ukrainians 2.04% and Belarusians 1.1% of the
population (2012).
A significant proportion of the inhabitants
(84.1%) are citizens of Estonia, around 7.3%
are citizens of Russia and 7.0% as yet undefined
citizenship (2010).
Greece: 91.6% of the permanent residents are
ethnic Greek; the remaining 911929 inhabitants
consist of immigrants from Albania (480,824),
Bulgaria (75,915), Romania (46,253), former
USSR (70,000), Western Europe (77,000) and
the rest of the world (161,937).
Hungary: The Hungarians (or Magyar) people
consist of about 95% of the population, with
a small Roma and German minority: see Demographics
of Hungary.
Iceland: Although the inhabitants are ethnically
related to other Scandinavian groups, the
national culture and language are found only
in Iceland.
There are no cross-border minorities as the
nearest land is too far away: see Demographics
of Iceland.
Japan: Japan is also traditionally seen as
an example of a nation state and also the
largest of the nation states, with population
in excess of 120 million.
It should be noted that Japan has a small
number of minorities such as Ryūkyū peoples,
Koreans and Chinese, and on the northern island
of Hokkaidō, the indigenous Ainu minority.
However, they are either numerically insignificant
(Ainu), their difference is not as pronounced
(though Ryukyuan culture is closely related
to Japanese culture, it is nonetheless distinctive
in that it historically received much more
influence from China and has separate political
and nonpolitical and religious traditions)
or well assimilated (Zainichi population is
collapsing due to assimilation/naturalisation).
Lebanon: The Lebanese Arabs comprise about
95% of the population, with the remainder
consisting of a few small ethnic minorities,
as well as refugees or asylum seekers.
Modern Lebanese identity is closely tied to
the geography of Lebanon and its history.
Although they are now an Arab people and ethnically
homogeneous, its identity oversees overlapping
or conflicting ideologies between its Phoenician
heritage and Arab heritage.
While many Lebanese regard themselves as Arab,
some Lebanese Christians, especially the Maronites,
regard themselves, their history, and their
culture as Phoenician and not Arab, while
still other Lebanese regard themselves as
both.
Lesotho: Lesotho's ethno-linguistic structure
consists almost entirely of the Basotho (singular
Mosotho), a Bantu-speaking people; about 99.7%
of the population are Basotho.
Maldives: The vast majority of the population
is ethnically Dhivehi at about 98% of the
population, with the remainder consisting
of foreign workers; there are no indigenous
ethnic minorities.
Malta: The vast majority of the population
is ethnically Maltese at about 95.3% of the
population, with the remainder consisting
of a few small ethnic minorities.
Mongolia: The vast majority of the population
is ethnically Mongol at about 95.0% of the
population, with the remainder consisting
of a few ethnic minorities included in Kazakhs.
North and South Korea are among the most ethnically
and linguistically homogeneous in the world.
Particularly in reclusive North Korea, there
are very few ethnic minority groups and expatriate
foreigners.
Poland: After World War II, with the genocide
of the Jews by the invading German Nazis during
the Holocaust, the expulsion of Germans after
World War II and the loss of eastern territories
(Kresy), 96.7% of the people of Poland claim
Polish nationality, while 97.8% declare that
they speak Polish at home (Census 2002.).
Several Polynesian countries such as Tonga,
Samoa, Tuvalu, etc.
Portugal: Although surrounded by other lands
and people, the Portuguese nation has occupied
the same territory since the romanization
or latinization of the native population during
the Roman era.
The modern Portuguese nation is a very old
amalgam of formerly distinct historical populations
that passed through and settled in the territory
of modern Portugal: native Iberian peoples,
Celts, ancient Mediterraneans (Greeks, Phoenicians,
Romans, Jews), invading Germanic peoples like
the Suebi and the Visigoths, and Muslim Arabs
and Berbers.
Most Berber/Arab people and the Jews were
expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during
the Reconquista and the repopulation by Christians.
San Marino: The Sammarinese make up about
97% of the population and all speak Italian
and are ethnically and linguistically identical
to Italians.
San Marino is a landlocked enclave, completely
surrounded by Italy.
The state has a population of approximately
30,000, including 1,000 foreigners, most of
whom are Italians.
Swaziland: The vast majority of the population
is ethnically Swazi at about 98.6% of the
population, with the remainder consisting
of a few small ethnic minorities.The notion
of a unifying "national identity" also extends
to countries that host multiple ethnic or
language groups, such as India.
For example, Switzerland is constitutionally
a confederation of cantons, and has four official
languages, but it has also a "Swiss" national
identity, a national history and a classic
national hero, Wilhelm Tell.Innumerable conflicts
have arisen where political boundaries did
not correspond with ethnic or cultural boundaries.
After World War II in the Josip Broz Tito
era, nationalism was appealed to for uniting
South Slav peoples.
Later in the 20th century, after the break-up
of the Soviet Union, leaders appealed to ancient
ethnic feuds or tensions that ignited conflict
between the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as
well as Bosniaks, Montenegrins and Macedonians,
eventually breaking up the long collaboration
of peoples.
Ethnic cleansing was carried out in the Balkans,
resulting in the destruction of the formerly
socialist republic and producing the civil
wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992–95,
resulting in mass population displacements
and segregation that radically altered what
was once a highly diverse and intermixed ethnic
makeup of the region.
These conflicts were largely about creating
a new political framework of states, each
of which would be ethnically and politically
homogeneous.
Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks insisted they were
ethnically distinct although many communities
had a long history of intermarriage.
Presently Slovenia (89% Slovene), Croatia
(90.4% Croat) and Serbia (83% Serb) could
be classified as nation states per se, whereas
Macedonia (66% Macedonian), Montenegro (42%
Montenegrin) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (50.1%
Bosniak) are multinational states.
Belgium is a classic example of a state that
is not a nation state.
The state was formed by secession from the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830,
whose neutrality and integrity was protected
by the Treaty of London 1839; thus it served
as a buffer state after the Napoleonic Wars
between the European powers France, Prussia
(after 1871 the German Empire) and the United
Kingdom until World War I, when its neutrality
was breached by the Germans.
Currently, Belgium is divided between the
Flemings in the north and the French-speaking
or the German-speaking population in the south.
The Flemish population in the north speaks
Dutch, the Walloon population in the south
speaks French or German.
The Brussels population speaks French or Dutch.
The Flemish identity is also cultural, and
there is a strong separatist movement espoused
by the political parties, the right-wing Vlaams
Belang and the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie.
The Francophone Walloon identity of Belgium
is linguistically distinct and regionalist.
There is also unitary Belgian nationalism,
several versions of a Greater Netherlands
ideal, and a German-speaking community of
Belgium annexed from Germany in 1920, and
re-annexed by Germany in 1940–1944.
However these ideologies are all very marginal
and politically insignificant during elections.
China covers a large geographic area and uses
the concept of "Zhonghua minzu" or Chinese
nationality, in the sense of ethnic groups,
but it also officially recognizes the majority
Han ethnic group which accounts for over 90%
of the population, and no fewer than 55 ethnic
national minorities.
According to Philip G. Roeder, Moldova is
an example of a Soviet era "segment-state"
(Moldavian SSR), where the "nation-state project
of the segment-state trumped the nation-state
project of prior statehood.
In Moldova, despite strong agitation from
university faculty and students for reunification
with Romania, the nation-state project forged
within the Moldavian SSR trumped the project
for a return to the interwar nation-state
project of Greater Romania."
See Controversy over linguistic and ethnic
identity in Moldova for further details.
== Exceptional cases ==
=== United Kingdom ===
The United Kingdom is an unusual example of
a nation state, due to its claimed "countries
within a country" status.
The United Kingdom, which is formed by the
union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, is a unitary state formed initially
by the merger of two independent kingdoms,
the Kingdom of England (which already included
Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland, but the
Treaty of Union (1707) that set out the agreed
terms has ensured the continuation of distinct
features of each state, including separate
legal systems and separate national churches.In
2003, the British Government described the
United Kingdom as "countries within a country".
While the Office for National Statistics and
others describe the United Kingdom as a "nation
state", others, including a then Prime Minister,
describe it as a "multinational state", and
the term Home Nations is used to describe
the four national teams that represent the
four nations of the United Kingdom (England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales).
Some refer to it as a "Union State".There
has been academic debate over whether the
United Kingdom can be legally dissolved as
it is normally recognized internationally
as a single nation state.
English law jurist A.V.
Dicey from an English legal perspective wrote
that the question is based on whether the
legislation giving rise to the union (the
Union with Scotland Act), one of the two pieces
of legislation which created the state, can
be repealed.
Dicey claimed because the Law of England does
not acknowledge the word "unconstitutional",
as a matter of English law it can be repealed.
He also stated any tampering with the Acts
of Union 1707 would be political madness.
=== Kingdom of the Netherlands ===
A similar unusual example is the Kingdom of
the Netherlands.
As of 10 October 2010, the Kingdom of the
Netherlands consists of four countries:
Netherlands proper
Aruba
Curaçao
Sint MaartenEach is expressly designated as
a land in Dutch law by the Charter for the
Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Unlike the German Länder and the Austrian
Bundesländer, landen is consistently translated
as "countries" by the Dutch government.
=== Israel ===
Israel was founded as a Jewish state in 1948.
Its "Basic Laws" describe it as both a Jewish
and a democratic state.
The Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State
of the Jewish People (2018) explicitly specifies
the nature of the State of Israel as the nation-state
of the Jewish people.
According to the Israel Central Bureau of
Statistics, 75.7% of Israel's population are
Jews.
Arabs, who make up 20.4% of the population,
are the largest ethnic minority in Israel.
Israel also has very small communities of
Armenians, Circassians, Assyrians, Samaritans,
and persons of some Jewish heritage.
There are also some non-Jewish spouses of
Israeli Jews.
However, these communities are very small,
and usually number only in the hundreds or
thousands.
=== Pakistan ===
Pakistan, even being an ethnically diverse
country and officially a federation, is regarded
as a nation state due to its ideological basis
on which it was given independence from British
India as a separate nation rather than as
part of a unified India.
Different ethnic groups in Pakistan are strongly
bonded by their common Muslim identity, common
cultural and social values, common historical
heritage, a national lingua franca (Urdu)
and joint political, strategic and economic
interests.
== Minorities ==
The most obvious deviation from the ideal
of "one nation, one state" is the presence
of minorities, especially ethnic minorities,
which are clearly not members of the majority
nation.
An ethnic nationalist definition of a nation
is necessarily exclusive: ethnic nations typically
do not have open membership.
In most cases, there is a clear idea that
surrounding nations are different, and that
includes members of those nations who live
on the "wrong side" of the border.
Historical examples of groups who have been
specifically singled out as outsiders are
the Roma and Jews in Europe.
Negative responses to minorities within the
nation state have ranged from cultural assimilation
enforced by the state, to expulsion, persecution,
violence, and extermination.
The assimilation policies are usually enforced
by the state, but violence against minorities
is not always state initiated: it can occur
in the form of mob violence such as lynching
or pogroms.
Nation states are responsible for some of
the worst historical examples of violence
against minorities not considered part of
the nation.
However, many nation states accept specific
minorities as being part of the nation, and
the term national minority is often used in
this sense.
The Sorbs in Germany are an example: for centuries
they have lived in German-speaking states,
surrounded by a much larger ethnic German
population, and they have no other historical
territory.
They are now generally considered to be part
of the German nation and are accepted as such
by the Federal Republic of Germany, which
constitutionally guarantees their cultural
rights.
Of the thousands of ethnic and cultural minorities
in nation states across the world, only a
few have this level of acceptance and protection.
Multiculturalism is an official policy in
many states, establishing the ideal of peaceful
existence among multiple ethnic, cultural,
and linguistic groups.
Many nations have laws protecting minority
rights.
When national boundaries that do not match
ethnic boundaries are drawn, such as in the
Balkans and Central Asia, ethnic tension,
massacres and even genocide, sometimes has
occurred historically (see Serbian genocide,
Bosnian genocide and 2010 South Kyrgyzstan
ethnic clashes).
== Irredentism ==
Ideally, the border of a nation state extends
far enough to include all the members of the
nation, and all of the national homeland.
Again, in practice some of them always live
on the 'wrong side' of the border.
Part of the national homeland may be there
too, and it may be governed by the 'wrong'
nation.
The response to the non-inclusion of territory
and population may take the form of irredentism:
demands to annex unredeemed territory and
incorporate it into the nation state.
Irredentist claims are usually based on the
fact that an identifiable part of the national
group lives across the border.
However, they can include claims to territory
where no members of that nation live at present,
because they lived there in the past, the
national language is spoken in that region,
the national culture has influenced it, geographical
unity with the existing territory, or a wide
variety of other reasons.
Past grievances are usually involved and can
cause revanchism.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish irredentism
from pan-nationalism, since both claim that
all members of an ethnic and cultural nation
belong in one specific state.
Pan-nationalism is less likely to specify
the nation ethnically.
For instance, variants of Pan-Germanism have
different ideas about what constituted Greater
Germany, including the confusing term Grossdeutschland,
which, in fact, implied the inclusion of huge
Slavic minorities from the Austro-Hungarian
Empire.
Typically, irredentist demands are at first
made by members of non-state nationalist movements.
When they are adopted by a state, they typically
result in tensions, and actual attempts at
annexation are always considered a casus belli,
a cause for war.
In many cases, such claims result in long-term
hostile relations between neighbouring states.
Irredentist movements typically circulate
maps of the claimed national territory, the
greater nation state.
That territory, which is often much larger
than the existing state, plays a central role
in their propaganda.
Irredentism should not be confused with claims
to overseas colonies, which are not generally
considered part of the national homeland.
Some French overseas colonies would be an
exception: French rule in Algeria unsuccessfully
treated the colony as a département of France.
== Future ==
It has been speculated by both proponents
of globalization and various science fiction
writers that the concept of a nation state
may disappear with the ever-increasing interconnectedness
of the world.
Such ideas are sometimes expressed around
concepts of a world government.
Another possibility is a societal collapse
and move into communal anarchy or zero world
government, in which nation states no longer
exist and government is done on the local
level based on a global ethic of human rights.This
falls in line with the concept of internationalism,
which states that sovereignty is an outdated
concept and a barrier to achieving peace and
harmony in the world.
Globalization especially has helped to bring
about the discussion about the disappearance
of nation states, as global trade and the
rise of the concepts of a 'global citizen'
and a common identity have helped to reduce
differences and 'distances' between individual
nation states, especially with regards to
the internet.
=== Clash of civilizations ===
The theory of the clash of civilizations lies
in direct contrast to cosmopolitan theories
about an ever more-connected world that no
longer requires nation states.
According to political scientist Samuel P.
Huntington, people's cultural and religious
identities will be the primary source of conflict
in the post–Cold War world.
The theory was originally formulated in a
1992 lecture at the American Enterprise Institute,
which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign
Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations?",
in response to Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book,
The End of History and the Last Man.
Huntington later expanded his thesis in a
1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the
Remaking of World Order.
Huntington began his thinking by surveying
the diverse theories about the nature of global
politics in the post–Cold War period.
Some theorists and writers argued that human
rights, liberal democracy and capitalist free
market economics had become the only remaining
ideological alternative for nations in the
post–Cold War world.
Specifically, Francis Fukuyama, in The End
of History and the Last Man, argued that the
world had reached a Hegelian "end of history".
Huntington believed that while the age of
ideology had ended, the world had reverted
only to a normal state of affairs characterized
by cultural conflict.
In his thesis, he argued that the primary
axis of conflict in the future will be along
cultural and religious lines.
As an extension, he posits that the concept
of different civilizations, as the highest
rank of cultural identity, will become increasingly
useful in analyzing the potential for conflict.
In the 1993 Foreign Affairs article, Huntington
writes:
It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source
of conflict in this new world will not be
primarily ideological or primarily economic.
The great divisions among humankind and the
dominating source of conflict will be cultural.
Nation states will remain the most powerful
actors in world affairs, but the principal
conflicts of global politics will occur between
nations and groups of different civilizations.
The clash of civilizations will dominate global
politics.
The fault lines between civilizations will
be the battle lines of the future.Sandra Joireman
suggests that Huntington may be characterised
as a neo-primordialist, as, while he sees
people as having strong ties to their ethnicity,
he does not believe that these ties have always
existed.
== Historiography ==
Historians often look to the past to find
the origins of a particular nation state.
Indeed, they often put so much emphasis on
the importance of the nation state in modern
times, that they distort the history of earlier
periods in order to emphasize the question
of origins.
Lansing and English argue that much of the
medieval history of Europe was structured
to follow the historical winners—especially
the nation states that emerged around Paris
and London.
Important developments that did not directly
lead to a nation state get neglected, they
argue:
one effect of this approach has been to privilege
historical winners, aspects of medieval Europe
that became important in later centuries,
above all the nation state....
Arguably the liveliest cultural innovation
in the 13th century was Mediterranean, centered
on Frederick II's polyglot court and administration
in Palermo....Sicily and the Italian South
in later centuries suffered a long slide into
overtaxed poverty and marginality.
Textbook narratives therefore focus not on
medieval Palermo, with its Muslim and Jewish
bureaucracies and Arabic-speaking monarch,
but on the historical winners, Paris and London.
== See also ==
Balkanization
Bioregionalism as an alternative to nation
states.
Caliphate
City-state
Nation
Nationalism
National personification
Titular nation
Westphalian sovereignty
== References ==
Anderson, Benedict.
1991.
Imagined Communities.
ISBN 0-86091-329-5.
Colomer, Josep M..
2007.
Great Empires, Small Nations.
The Uncertain Future of the Sovereign State.
ISBN 0-415-43775-X.
Gellner, Ernest (1983).
Nations and Nationalism.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
ISBN 0-8014-1662-0.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. (1992).
Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme,
Myth, Reality.
2nd ed.
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-43961-2.
James, Paul (1996).
Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract
Community.
London: Sage Publications.
ISBN 0-7619-5072-9.
Khan, Ali (1992).
The Extinction of Nation states
Renan, Ernest.
1882.
"Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?"
("What is a Nation?")
Malesevic, Sinisa (2006).
Identity as Ideology: Understanding Ethnicity
and Nationalism New York: Palgrave.
Smith, Anthony D. (1986).
The Ethnic Origins of Nations London: Basil
Blackwell.
pp 6–18.
ISBN 0-631-15205-9.
White, Philip L. (2006).
"Globalization and the Mythology of the Nation
State," In A.G.Hopkins, ed.
Global History: Interactions Between the Universal
and the Local Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 257–284.
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=== Notes ===
=== External links ===
From Paris to Cairo: Resistance of the Unacculturated
on identity and the nation state.
