Difference between a Nation, a state & A Nation-State Nationalism Difference between a Nation, a state & A Nation-State The United Nations is composed of "member states" but the organization itself is called the United Nations. Nations and states may seem identical, but they aren't.

What is a State? "States" govern a territory with boundaries. They have laws, taxes, officials, currencies, postal services, police and (usually) armies. They wage war, negotiate treaties, put people in prison and regulate life in thousands of ways. They claim "sovereignty" within their territory -- a kind of exclusive jurisdiction that goes back to the rule of kings.

What is a Nation? "Nations" by contrast are groups of people claiming common bonds like language, culture and historical identity. "imagined communities." Some groups claiming to be nations have a state of their own, like the French, Dutch, Egyptians and Japanese. Others want a state but do not have one East Timorese, Tibetans, Chechnyans and Palestinians for example. Others don't want statehood but claim and enjoy some autonomy. The Sioux are a nation within the boundaries of the United States, the Catalan within Spain, and the Scots within Britain. Each of these nations has its own special territory, rights, laws and culture. But not statehood. Some imagined nations are larger than states or cross state boundaries. The "Arab nation" embraces more than a dozen states, while the nation of the Kurds takes in large chunks of four states.

What is a Nation-State? It is a system of political, geographic and cultural organization. It is a system of organization in which people with common identity live inside a country with firm borders and single government. Nation-States must have a shared national culture, this is often achieved through common language, history, holidays and education. France or Japan, people in both countries overwhelmingly share a common language, history and culture and has clearly defined boundaries with single government so these are nation-states.  Switzerland, there are four different languages are spoken and has varied culture within, so not a nation-state.

Nationalism Belief that a group of people with similar cultural backgrounds rightly belong together in one nation. This idea became popular in western Europe in the 19th century and spread globally Almost every nation in Europe saw violent protests supporting more political rights and nationalism

Europe in flames Nationalist revolutions in Latin America succeeded in running off the colonial Powers These successes inspired people in Europe to try to use nationalism to throw out those governments they thought were “outside oppressors” Greece broke away from the Ottoman Empire Poles, Italians, and Slaves failed in their attempt to break away from the large Austrian Empire in the early 19th century In 1848 so many nations experienced violence that the phrase “Europe in Flames” became popular In the 1860s & 1870s, two new nations emerged, both forged with strong nationalist fervor: Italy & Germany