- State: A territory over which no other country holds power or sovereignty.
- There are 196 according to the UN in 2016
- Nation State: A sovereign state of which most of the citizens or subjects are united also by factors which define a nation, such as language or common descent.
- Sovereignty: The ability or power of a place and its people to self-govern without outside interference.
- A nation may not have sovereignty over themselves e.g. Wales and Scotland do not make their own laws.
- Some dependencies that are territories that belong to other countries e.g. Greenland belonging to Denmark.
Varying
Nation States:
- Nation states and culture can be very diverse e.g. USA has a range of immigrants from Europe and South America and also indigenous cultures e.g. North American Indians.
- Some countries have a homogeneous culture: Society where there is very little cultural or ethnic diversity e.g. sharing the same traits of other people.
- Migration is the most important factor in affecting the diversity or homogeneity of a state, some countries have encouraged immigration to get more skilled workers.
- Country that are switched off tend to have less migration therefore they remain less multicultural and end up more homogeneous.
Comparing Iceland & Singapore:
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Iceland:
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Singapore:
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Physically isolated small island |
Diverse |
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Small population, cold climate |
Asian Tiger Economy due to fast growth and globalisation |
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Strict immigration laws |
One of the world’s highest GDP |
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Developed industry in fishing and tourism
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Variety of immigrants from Europe and Asia |
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Old and strong traditions. Globalisation reversed.
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British Empire developed leading to a globalisation boom and very
mixed ethnic groups. Unity is mixed.
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National
Borders:
- Established due to physical geography and historical developments.
- Some areas are united e.g. UK, Australia and some aren’t e.g. Europe which broadly links to a language map.
- In Africa and the Middle East, the political boundaries do not match the cultural and ethnic groups which creates tensions, conflict and the problems of sovereignty.
- DR Congo has 240 ethnic groups, and these have been the reasons for many ongoing conflicts e.g. Hutu vs Tutsi groups who have fought to kill each other and hundreds of others.
- Middle Easy has similar problems with 25 million Kurdish people split between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. This creates problems as the Kurdish people want to set up their own sovereign state (Kurdistan) and the rise of IS has led to problems.
- Problems for superpowers as they involved due to energy resources and also the location – on the edge of Europe.
Contested
Borders:
- Crimea area of Ukraine where Russia has taken over as they argued that Ukraine did not the sovereign right to the area. Also, mainly contains ethnic Russian populations. The war in 2014 caused 9000 deaths.
- Also, areas of conflict are Kashmir.
- Some nation states are not recognised by the UN e.g. Taiwan which is independent, yet China claims sovereignty over the area. Taiwan and the USA support each other which may hinder relationships.