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>The defining characteristic of a nation state is that it has a monopoly on violence within its borders. Pedantry FYI, that’s just a state. The term “nation” h
by trevyn 7y ago
>The defining characteristic of a nation state is that it has a monopoly on violence within its borders.
Pedantry FYI, that’s just a state. The term “nation” has more to do with distinct communities and culture. And so a “nation state” is when those overlap.
- panarky 7y agoPedantry squared FYI, but because the United States calls their provinces "states", it's helpful to disambiguate by adding the word "nation". Furthermore, since a nation is a group of people bound together by shared culture, values, religion, language, etc., while a state is a piece of land with a defined border, then nations and states are not necessarily the same thing. A "nation-state" is the intersection of the two, where cultural boundaries align with political and geographical boundaries, and not a redundant synonym of "state".