Encyclopedia entry
Nation and Nation‐State
The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, pp 2477-2490
15 Sep 2014
Abstract
Simply put, a nation is a group of people who recognize one another as sharing a common culture, history, and set of institutions and, according to some, the same language, ethnicity, and religion, and a nation‐state is a political entity with sovereignty over a defined territory. But, there is nothing simple about either the term “nation” or the term “nation‐state.” Indeed, while the term nation is also confusingly used to refer to a particular state or country, its evolution, shifting meanings, and rhetorical uses in political discourse and statebuilding practices are highly contested, dynamic, contingent, and gendered. The term nation‐state appears less controversial as a designation of political space, yet its meaning and status are increasingly questioned today as notions and spaces of national sovereignty are practically and theoretically challenged by contemporary globalizing trends. Ethno‐national conflicts, transnational rights regimes, and crossborder movements of capital, information, pollutants, viruses, and people, call into question national control over territory and the feasibility or desirability of such defined units of political association.
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Details
- Title
- Nation and Nation‐State
- Creators
- Julie Mostov
- Contributors
- Michael T Gibbons (Editor)
- Publication Details
- The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, pp 2477-2490
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; Chichester, UK
- Number of pages
- 14
- Resource Type
- Encyclopedia entry
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Global Studies and Modern Languages; Politics
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105025342941
- Other Identifier
- 991021879624804721