Nation States

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Nation States
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Humans have always partitioned space to separate
themselves from other human groups. This is
similar to other species. The creation of
territory is the basis for political organization
and action. The political partitioning of space
leads to the most basic of human geographic
divisions - the sovereign state. Most states are
recognized as such by other states, and their
territory respected they are governed by a
recognizable body, with rules for the
administration of the state. Individuals are
therefore tied to a state and subject to its
rules.
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The growth of France.
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A nation is a cultural group which is based on
variables such as language, religion, ethnicity.
These factors give people a sense of identity and
community. But not all cultural groups aspire to
be nations. A state is a formally defined
political territory, with a clearly defined set
of institutions, including rule making and
enforcement, that claims exclusive jurisdiction
over all the people and activities within the
state. A nation state is a clearly defined
cultural group (a nation) occupying a defined
territory (a state). Click here for a list of the
states in the UN and their date of admission.
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Historically, just because a political unit
exists does not necessarily mean that the
boundaries delimit a nation, or national
identity, e.g., the Roman Empire, the Third
Reich, various monarchies So how did the idea of
the nation state arise? Required the concept of
nationalism, which is the belief that the nation
and the state should be the same or congruent,
and that there is no other appropriate way to
delimit a nation state. It is therefore the
natural political unit.
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It has also been argued that nationalism also
means that all members of the national
(cultural) group have the right to live within
the borders of the state that it may
inappropriate for other national groups to live
within the borders and, the government must be
in the hands of the dominant national
group. Given these ideas or arguments, it is
possible to see how conflict both internally and
externally can arise. In Europe, nationalism
became the dominant criteria for defining a
nation in the 19th century. Before that most
people just tended to accept whatever empire or
despotic ruler was in charge. Why did this change?
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• Five possible explanations for the emergence of
  the nation state
• response to national political philosophies of
  the 18th century, especially the Swiss
  philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
• desire to be closer to people of similar cultural
  backgrounds
• part of the transition from feudalism to
  capitalism, because those who owned and benefited
  from the means of production liked a stable state
  (this is a Marxist argument)
• part of the economic growth based on expanding
  technologies
• the collapse of local communities (with
  industrialization) and the need for communication
  and coordination of a larger group

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Despite this rise of nationalism, the world has
lots of examples of multinational and binational
states. For example African countries whose
boundaries were drawn by Europeans without
considering African national cultural groups.
Many multinational states are unstable,
especially in Africa, but not all, e.g., the US,
Switzerland. Binational states include Canada and
Belgium, both of which suffer internal stresses
due to differing political desires of dominant
cultural groups.
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When the entire population of a state is not
bound by the same sense of nationalism but is
spilt among local primary allegiances, then that
state is said to suffer from cultural
subnationalism. This can lead to civil war or
even international disputes (e.g., India helping
the 18 Tamil population of Sri
Lanka). Subnationalism is one of the centrifugal
forces that pull nations apart, as compared to
centripetal forces (like a strong sense of
nationalism) which tend to act to bind a state
together. Subnationalism has led to strong
authoritarian rulers in some states, especially
in Africa, who argue that authoritarianism is the
only alternative to tribalism tearing the
countries apart. How these countries got this way
is a function of colonialism.
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Turning and turning in the widening gyre The
falcon cannot hear the falconer Things fall
apart the center cannot hold Mere anarchy is
loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is
loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence
is drowned The best lack all conviction, while
the worst Are full of passionate
intensity. William Butler Yeats "The Second
Coming"
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