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Copying my reply to GP: This is a US-vs-everyone-else terminology difference. In most of the world "state" refers to a sovereign entity, "nation" refers to an

Copying my reply to GP: This is a US-vs-everyone-else terminology difference. In most of the world "state" refers to a sovereign entity, "nation" refers to an ethnic group, and "nation-state" is a state identified with an ethnic nation. But all of that terminology solidified in the 19th century, so outside of academic political science the US uses "state" to refer to individual entities in a federation (e.g. translating German "Bundesland" as "state"), "nation" to refer to non-ethnic bodies politick, and "nation-state" to specify "what we call a nation, what the Old World calls a state". Which of course leads to a lot of confusion about the connotations of "EU member state", which in European discourse implies real sovereignty, but in US discourse implies a federalist Europe.

dan-robertson 6y ago
This confusion is easily avoided by saying “country,” or if you still want your writing to be verbose you could say “government” or “government-backed actor.”
- azernik 6y ago
  "Country" is also ambiguous. Lots of "countries" are not independent, e.g. the UK is made up of four "countries" - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Similarly, the "Land" example I used above for the German federal subjects literally means "country". "Governmental actor" would be a better international-friendly term for use in computer security, outside of the parochial world of US national security discourse.
azernik 6y ago
Having done a quick search for fun: US law actually uses "state" in a sense closer to the European and broader international sense. e.g. a "state actor" includes both the states and the federal government, and is used to describe any entity bound by the restrictions of the Bill of Rights. (e.g. state actors are bound by the First Amendment, whereas private actors can restrict speech all they want)

dan-robertson 6y ago

This confusion is easily avoided by saying “country,” or if you still want your writing to be verbose you could say “government” or “government-backed actor.”

azernik 6y ago
"Country" is also ambiguous. Lots of "countries" are not independent, e.g. the UK is made up of four "countries" - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Similarly, the "Land" example I used above for the German federal subjects literally means "country". "Governmental actor" would be a better international-friendly term for use in computer security, outside of the parochial world of US national security discourse.

azernik 6y ago

Having done a quick search for fun: US law actually uses "state" in a sense closer to the European and broader international sense. e.g. a "state actor" includes both the states and the federal government, and is used to describe any entity bound by the restrictions of the Bill of Rights. (e.g. state actors are bound by the First Amendment, whereas private actors can restrict speech all they want)