Nation state

A nation state is the political segment where the state together with nation are congruent. it is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does non need to shit a predominant ethnic group.

A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may put a diaspora or refugees who equal outside the nation state; some nations of this sense make not make 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:

This article mainly discusses the more specific definition of a nation-state as a typically sovereign country dominated by a particular ethnicity.

Characteristics

"Legitimate states that govern effectively and dynamic industrial economies are widely regarded today as the defining characteristics of a sophisticated 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 nearly noticeable characteristic is the degree to which nation states usage 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 remains a national transportation infrastructure, facilitating trade and travel. In 19th-century Europe, the expansion of the rail transport networks was at number one largely a matter for private railway companies, but gradually came under dominance of the national governments. The French rail network, with its leading lines radiating from Paris to any corners of France, is often seen as a reflection of the centralised French nation state, which directed its construction. Nation states fall out to build, for instance, specifically national motorway networks. Specifically transnational infrastructure programmes, such(a) 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(a) as Alsace-Lorraine, Catalonia, Brittany and Corsica. In many cases, the regional management was also subordinated to central national government. This process was partially reversed from the 1970s onward, with the intro of various forms of regional autonomy, in formerly centralised states such as France.

The almost 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 framework of the nation state implies that its population constitutes a nation, united by a common descent, a common language and many forms of dual-lane 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 particularly during conflicts some nation states still teach this style of history.

Language and cultural policy was sometimes negative, aimed at the suppression of non-national elements. Linguistic communication prohibitions were sometimes used to accelerate the adoption of national languages and the decline of minority languages see examples: Anglicisation, Bulgarization, Croatization, Czechization, Francisation, Italianization, Germanisation, Hispanicization, 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 cruise 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.