THE NATION-STATE SYSTEM | CSS International Relations Notes
Background and Approaches
A nation denotes a common ethnic and cultural identity shared by a single people, while a state is a political unit with a governance system controlling a territory and its inhabitants.
The nation promotes emotional relationship amongst its members, while states provide political and legal foundation for the identity of its citizens. The term nation-state has been used by social scientists to denote the gradual fusion of cultural and political boundaries after a long control of political authority by a central government. The nation-state plays a dominant role in international relations.
Nation and Government
While governments come and go, a state has more permanence. Students and scholars of international relations can depend upon the continued existence of a state as a viable political entity.
Historical Background
The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 created the modern nation-state. The treaty established the principle of internal sovereignty (preeminence of rulers from other claimants to power) and external sovereignty (independence from outside powers).
England, Spain and France obtained independence from dominance by the Holy Roman Empire. It is often said that the Peace of Westphalia initiated the modern fashion of diplomacy as it marked the beginning of the modern system of nation states. Subsequent wars were not about issues of religion, but rather revolved around issues of state. This allowed Catholic and Protestant Powers to ally, leading to a number of major realignments.
Another important result of the treaty was it laid rest to the idea of the Holy Roman Empire having secular dominion over the entire Christian world. The nation-state would be the highest level of government, subservient to no others. | CSS International Relations Notes
Scholars like Machiavelli, Bodin and Grotius defended the authority of the state and provided justification for the secular state independent from the authority of the Pope. | CSS International Relations Notes
Check Also: National Interest of Pakistan | Definition of National Interest
Approaches to IR
There are three approaches to studying the social-cultural, political and economic forces at work within different nation-states.
i. Objective (Attributive) Approach: identifies nationalism and the nation-state in terms of observable and quantifiable attributes, including linguistic, racial and religious factors.
ii. Subjective (Emotional) Approach: views nationalism and the nation-state as a set of emotional, ideological and patriotic feelings binding people regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.
iii. Eclectic (Synthetic) Approach: A more subjective than objective approach, seeking to supplement notions of nationalism and patriotism with interethnic interaction and education processes to explain creation of a common identity. | CSS International Relations Notes
Further Evolution of Nation-State
State systems underwent further evolution on account of rise of representative government, the industrial revolution, population explosion, independence of developing countries, economic growth and multilateral organizations etc. | CSS International Relations Notes
Relevant Vocabulary
Population explosion: uncontrolled growth of population
Sovereignty: dominion, rule or independence
Multilateral initiatives: joint efforts often involving different nations and with many objectives
Linguistic: concerning language
Quantifiable: scientific or verifiable | CSS International Relations Notes
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Approaches to IR
There are three approaches to studying the social-cultural, political and economic forces at work within different nation-states.
i. Objective (Attributive) Approach: identifies nationalism and the nation-state in terms of observable and quantifiable attributes, including linguistic, racial and religious factors.
ii. Subjective (Emotional) Approach: views nationalism and the nation-state as a set of emotional, ideological and patriotic feelings binding people regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.
iii. Eclectic (Synthetic) Approach: A more subjective than objective approach, seeking to supplement notions of nationalism and patriotism with interethnic interaction and education processes to explain creation of a common identity. | CSS International Relations Notes
Further Evolution of Nation-State
State systems underwent further evolution on account of rise of representative government, the industrial revolution, population explosion, independence of developing countries, economic growth and multilateral organizations etc. | CSS International Relations Notes
Relevant Vocabulary
Population explosion: uncontrolled growth of population
Sovereignty: dominion, rule or independence
Multilateral initiatives: joint efforts often involving different nations and with many objectives
Linguistic: concerning language
Quantifiable: scientific or verifiable | CSS International Relations Notes
