States, Nations, and Nation-States Defined

A state is a politically organized territory with a permanent population, defined borders, a government and the capacity to enter relations with other states; a nation is a group of people who share a sense of common identity, such as language, history or culture; and a nation-state is a state whose population is largely made up of a single nation. In brief: the terms are often confused, but they describe different things. Japan and Iceland are close to nation-states, Belgium and Switzerland are multinational states, and the Kurds are an example of a nation without a state of its own. There are 193 member states of the United Nations.

These concepts are the foundation of political geography and help to explain borders, conflicts and the politics of identity. This guide defines the terms, explains how states are recognized, shows how nations and states fit together or not, compares the types in a table, works through simple calculations, outlines the history and corrects common mistakes.

What is a state?

The 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States gives four commonly cited criteria: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. A state has sovereignty, which means supreme authority within its territory and independence from outside control. This is the legal meaning of “country” in international law. States can be unitary (power is concentrated in the central government, as in France or Japan) or federal (power is shared between a central government and regions, as in the United States, Germany, India and Brazil). Not all territories are states: dependencies and overseas territories, such as Puerto Rico or Greenland, have varying degrees of self-government but are not sovereign.

What is a nation?

A nation is a community of people who think of themselves as sharing a common identity based on elements such as language, ethnicity, religion, history, territory and shared institutions. The historian Benedict Anderson called nations “imagined communities” because members will never meet most of the others but still feel connected. A nation is a cultural and political idea and does not require a state. Nationalism is the belief that the nation should be the basis of political organization, often expressed as the right of a nation to self-determination. It can unite people and drive independence movements, but it can also cause exclusion and conflict.

What is a nation-state, and what are other combinations?

• Nation-state: a state in which the borders match the nation, with a large majority of one national group. Iceland, Japan, Poland and Bangladesh are often cited. Even these have some minorities, so the pure nation-state is an ideal more than a reality.
• Multinational state: a state with two or more nations. Belgium has Flemish and Walloon communities, Canada has English-speaking, French-speaking and Indigenous nations, Switzerland has four national languages, and India and Nigeria are highly diverse. Many are federal and use arrangements such as power-sharing and language rights.
• Stateless nation: a nation without its own state. The Kurds, numbering 30 to 40 million, live mainly in Türkiye, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Basques, Catalans, Tibetans and Palestinians are also often cited, although some have a degree of autonomy.
• Multistate nation: a nation divided between several states, such as the Korean nation (North and South Korea) or the Kurds.
• Failed or fragile state: a state that cannot control its territory or provide basic services, as in Somalia for long periods.

How are states recognized?

Under the declaratory theory, a state exists when it meets the criteria, while under the constitutive theory, recognition by other states creates it. In practice, recognition by other states and admission to the United Nations are very important. The UN has 193 member states, plus two permanent observer states, the Holy See (Vatican City) and Palestine. Some entities are recognized by some states but not by others, such as Kosovo and Taiwan, and some have de facto control but little recognition, such as Somaliland. Recognition is often political, and disputes arise when it affects territorial claims.

The terms compared

Worked example: counting states and measuring diversity

1. Growth of the state system: the United Nations started with 51 members in 1945 and has 193 now. The increase is 193 − 51 = 142 members, which is a growth of 142 ÷ 51 = 278%. In 1960 alone, 17 new members joined, of which 16 were African, during the decolonization wave.
2. Share of the largest group: a state has a population of 10 million, of which 9.6 million belong to the main ethnic group. The share is 9.6 ÷ 10 = 96%, so it is close to a nation-state.
3. Ethnic fractionalization index: the index is 1 − Σ(s_i)², where s_i is the share of each group. For a state with groups of 60%, 25% and 15%, it is 1 − (0.60² + 0.25² + 0.15²) = 1 − (0.36 + 0.0625 + 0.0225) = 1 − 0.445 = 0.555.
4. A near nation-state: for a state with 98% in the main group and 2% in another, the index is 1 − (0.98² + 0.02²) = 1 − (0.9604 + 0.0004) = 0.039, which is very low.
5. Interpretation: the index is the probability that two randomly chosen people belong to different groups. A value of 0.555 means a 55.5% chance, and 0.039 means about 3.9%.
6. Federal division: a federal state has 8 regions, and each controls its own education. If 5 of the 8 regions have a population majority of the national minority, minority representation in regional government is stronger than in the national government (a common reason for choosing federalism).

How did the modern state system develop?

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, is often cited as the origin of the system of sovereign states, though historians note that the system developed gradually. The French Revolution of 1789 and 19th-century movements in Germany and Italy spread the idea that the state should represent the nation, and the unification of Italy (1861) and Germany (1871) are examples. After the First World War, the empires of Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans broke up into new nation-states, and President Wilson promoted national self-determination. After 1945, decolonization created dozens of new states, many with borders drawn by colonial powers that cut across nations. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 1990s created more, and South Sudan became the newest UN member in 2011.

Which mistakes are common?

Mistake 1: Using “nation” and “country” as if they were the same

A country is a state, a political unit. A nation is a community with a shared identity. They may coincide, but they often do not.

Mistake 2: Thinking that most states are nation-states

Very few states have a single ethnic group. Most have mixed populations and are in effect multinational or multicultural.

Mistake 3: Believing that recognition is always clear-cut

Recognition is partly legal and partly political, and some territories exist in between, such as Kosovo and Taiwan.

Mistake 4: Treating borders as natural expressions of nations

Many borders, especially in Africa and the Middle East, were drawn by colonial or international agreements, and do not follow national boundaries.