Essay On Modern Nation State

The concept of the Nation- State is one which is completely ingrained and established into our society. We accept it unquestioningly as the dominant form of organized power in modernity, and it is popularly regarded as the only justified form of rule. This concept that there is no higher power beyond the sovereign nation-state is exemplified in the acceptance of the United Nations as the principal global political association in the world today, and the ‘right to nation-hood’ is one of our fundamental human rights. Yet, the concept of the nation- state is one which is astonishingly recent. Focusing only on human settled organisation, which emerged 12,000 years ago, the nation-state period counts for a mere less than 2% of sedentary existence.

And what were the processes which led to their development? In this essay I am going to explain the origins of modern Nation-States, by defining and explaining the features of the modern nation-state, analysing existing theories of its formation proposed by various theorists, and exploring and examining the historical processes which have led to the development of the sovereign nation state as we know it today.

Before going into the historical processes which resulted in its formation, we must first understand the defining characteristics and the principles of the modern sovereign nation state, which makes up the system of social organisation in place today, and which therefore is the basis for the mechanisms for the functioning of our society. The development of the nation is of central importance to the formation of the state, but whilst the terms ‘nation’ and ‘state’ are regularly inter-utilized wrongly, there is in fact a vital distinction between the two. Whilst a nation is an ambiguous term, it is essentially a self-defined psychological bond which ties a group of people. A state, on the other hand is a political and geographical construction with clearly