Concept and Definition of Nation

Introduction
The word of nation is used in different
way in different parts of the world. In
many countries and languages, the word
“nation” is synonymous with “state” or
the totality of a state citizens
Cont
Nation means: a group of people who
share culture, ethnic origin, and language
often possessing or seeking its own
independent government. A nation is
specific political, social, economic, and
cultural community with a common
language, culture, and history, living in a
neighboring territories with independent
political institutions and social organization
Nation means: a group of people who
share culture, ethnic origin, and language
often possessing or seeking its own
independent government. A nation is
specific political, social, economic, and
cultural community with a common
language, culture, and history, living in a
neighboring territories with independent
political institutions and social organization
Benedict Anderson argued that nation
were “imagined communities”
because the members of even the
smallest nation will never known most
of their following-members, meet
them, or even hear of them, yet in the
minds of each lives the image of their
communion and traced their origins
back .
 Common Language
Language is the primary ingredient in
the making of a nation. Without a
common language, a nation cannot be
evolve. A common culture, common
history is depend on language. Also
deal with everyday affairs within a
group of people living in a specific
boundary need a common mean of
communication to trade and socialize.
Cont:
Thus even if a group of people sharing
common language, culture and history
may live in different countries but
would still consider themselves
attached to their respective nations as
long as they share the same language.
 Language and cultural policy was
sometimes negatives, 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.
 Common culture
Many nations are constructed around
the idea of shared culture, the
national culture. The culture can be
assumed to be shared with previous
generations, cultural heritage from
these generations. As with the
common ancestry, this identification
of past culture with present culture
may be largely symbolic.
 Common History.
A nation can be constructed around a
common history.
 
Common Religion
Religion is sometimes used as a
defining factor for a nation, although
some nationalist movements de-
emphasized it as a divisive factor…
 
 Concept of Nation Building
Nation building refers to the process
of constructing or structuring a
national identity using the power of
the state. This process aims at the
unification of the people or people
within the state so that it remains
politically stable and viable in the long
run.
 Elements of a nation building
There are three core elements of a
nation building such as:
 
1-Genuine self rule (first making
decisions about resources allocations,
project funding and development
strategy.
 2-Creating effective government
institutions (non-political dispute
resolution mechanisms and getting rid
of corruption).
3-Cultural match (giving first nations
institutions legitimacy in the eyes of
their citizens) and (the need for a
strategic orientation for long term-
planning).
 Concept of state
State is defined as a community
occupying the area and was ruled
by a government. The area under
state power and everything related
to state country or state often
associated with race, community,
government, and national
 Cont:
It is also refers to a group of people
who live in regions or specific areas of
law, international law is a political
community or region qualify as a
nation.
The concept of state is that everyone
must be strictly be separated into
lands where everyone's language,
culture, heritage and other related
factors are the same.
It is the concept which has obstructed
the progress of world peace and unity
through the development of
nationalism and cultural difference
and must be dissolved in order to
achieve world unity.
 Elements of State
1-Population
A state fundamentally comprises of a
permanent population over which it
exercises its unlimited authority. The
nature of the state depends upon the
quality and quantity of its population.
No ideal size of population can be
stated.
 Aristotle stated “ A population
must be large enough to be self-
sufficient but small enough to be
well-governed.
 2-Territory
A state cannot exist without
territory. Therefore, territory
refers to land, surrounding water
up to 3 nautical miles, as well as
the air above the land and water.
 3-Government
It is a few people who administer the
population and are meant to express
the will of the state. The government
has limited power, as opposed to the
state’s unlimited authority. The
government is subject to change and is
bound to obey will of the people as
well as well as state. To equate the
government with state is dangerous
and yet is common mistake.
 4-Sovereignty
It is the most important of a state. It
implies the state is independent from
external interference, as well as can
maintain integrity within itself.
 Characteristic of nation state
The following are the characteristics
that all nation-states shared such as:
1-Self-Rule: means that nation-states
rule themselves. They are
independent, not colonies of another
country.
 2-Organized Government: is the way in
which nation-states rules themselves. For
example, the government of the United
States is organized into three branches
such as executive, legislative, and judicial.
It is also organized into three levels:
federal, state, and local. Not all nation-
states are organized in the same way but
there also have governments that are
organized is some way.
3-Territory: Territory is the lane and water
that is governed by a nation-state.
 
4-Population: population refers to the
people who live in the nation-state. The
population of a nation-state can be made
up of different ethnicities. However, all
citizens share the same nationality.